


Fire in the Sky

by AwakeAndAliveSpartan



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Amnesiac Ward, Destiny, F/M, Grant Ward Redemption, New Beginnings, Prophecies, Ward is Hellfire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2018-06-05 20:25:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 37
Words: 56,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6722080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwakeAndAliveSpartan/pseuds/AwakeAndAliveSpartan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Grant Ward is found alive and powered after his supposed death after Hive's defeat, Skye's life is thrown into a tailspin. Especially since Grant has no clue to who he is or who she is. But things are really meant to be when she finds out they're truly connected. Just what are they meant for?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ghosts of a Memory

“So,” Skye began, looking at Coulson as they stepped out of the SHIELD SUV at the military prison base. She narrowed her eyes at the large, gray walls of the compound. “Why the hell are we here again?”

Coulson nodded, reaching for his SHIELD ID in his back pocket as they approached the heavy doors, “The Warden here contacted me about a strange case. An army convoy picked up a pyrokinetic Inhuman about two days ago. He woke up yesterday and when the officials here started questioning him, it was found out that he has no memory of who he is. Everything about him is gone from his mind apparently. The Warden wanted us to take a look into it since we’ve got a whole division dedicated to Inhumans. Sometimes having SHIELD back into the world is a real hassle.”

Skye rolled her eyes as the guards at the door let them in after Coulson flashed his badge. Coulson led Skye to the front desk, a young-looking guard looking at them. “You must be the Director.” he stated. “Warden Sinclair sent for you, correct?”

“Yes, she did indeed.” Coulson responded, showing the guard his badge. He pointed to Skye, “And she’s with me. Agent Johnson.”

The guard nodded and buzzed them through, “The Warden should be on the other side waiting for you.”

With a nod, Coulson took Skye and walked through the door. A middle-aged woman with long, black hair met them and walked towards them, adjusting her uniform. “Director.”

“Warden.”

Sinclair nodded and looked towards Skye, “And this must be Agent Johnson. You’re the one in charge of the Inhumans at SHIELD, correct?”

Skye nodded curtly, “I am.”

“Then you’ll find our latest prisoner a real case. Well, he’s technically not a prisoner since he hasn’t done anything wrong at all.” Sinclair began to explain, leading them down the long hallway towards the cells. “We found him in a small town in the middle of nowhere in California. The police were called to investigate a strange man and they found him. He freaked out and flames started spewing from his skin. The National Guard was sent in and was able to get him unconscious before any real damage was done. He woke up yesterday and according to our tests, he’s got no memory. He can’t answer simple questions without freezing up and freaking out. He needs to be somewhere where there’s people that can understand him.”

“So you want to transfer him to us?” Coulson asked as they approached the special cell block.

Sinclair nodded, “We don’t have the resources here for someone like him. He doesn’t seem to be all that bad of a guy, just scared. He doesn’t need to be here. That’s why I called you. I hoped that SHIELD could help him.” She led them to a cell marked ‘D3’.

There was glass separating them from whoever was inside of the cell. But it was tinted and they couldn’t see in. Sinclair pressed a few buttons beside the door and the tint lightened up so they could see.

“What the fuck?” Skye bursted out, stepped back from the glass. She stared at the man sitting inside on the bed.

Sinclair frowned, “What’s the matter?” she asked, stepping in front of the glass.

Coulson blinked and studied the man in the cell. It wasn’t until the man looked up at them that he realized just who the hell the man was. “Oh my God, he’s alive.” he muttered.

“You know this man?”

“Yeah, we do.” Skye muttered. “Ward.”

And Skye was right. The man staring back at them was no other than Grant Douglas Ward. But he looked rough. His hair was ratty and his beard long and wild. A haunted look was settled into his hollowed-out eyes. He still wore the strange get-up that Hive wore, but it was torn and burned in several places. His frame was still highly muscular. But the worst of all was the confusion in his eyes. He didn’t know the people standing behind the glass looking at him.

But he had died after they had liberated him from Hive. More like his body had disappeared when they were distracted. They didn’t know it, but it had actually disintegrated. But now he was here, a year later, powered and suffering with amnesia, it seemed.

And Sinclair was utterly confused, “Who?” she asked. “Ward?”

Coulson took a breath, “I imagine you’ve heard of the Hive incident from last year, right?”

“Yes. Hive was a murderous Inhuman that was set on Inhumans taking over the Earth. Killed a lot.”

Coulson pointed to Ward, “He was Hive’s host. Ward and SHIELD have a bad history. He was on my team for a while before he revealed himself to be Hydra. Hurt us all. He eventually took the reins of Hydra as its Director for a while before Gideon Malick came out of nowhere and led Ward down another bad path. Ward was killed on the alien planet that held Hive and Hive took over his corpse.

We found out that Ward was still alive within Hive and we thought we got him back after Hive’s death. But he died again and his body disappeared.” he continued. “I don’t know what’s going on here.”

Grant continued to stare at them, unsure of what was going on.

“But you’ll take him in, right? We can’t allow him to stay here.” Sinclair continued, looking at Coulson.

Coulson bit his lip, unsure of what to do. He could tell that this was no longer Grant Ward, but he still hated the man. But Sinclair couldn’t keep him here. He turned to Skye, “Go talk to him.”

“What?! You’ve got to be crazy! What if he attacks me?”

“I don’t think he will. I’ll talk to Sinclair.”

Sinclair nodded and unlocked the cell, “Be careful, he’s extremely confused. So I don’t know how he’ll react.”

Skye took a breath and walked into the cell to meet Grant Ward’s eyes, but she didn’t say a single word to him.

He looked at her with confusion lighting up in his eyes, he didn’t remember her at all. “Who are you?” he rasped. He looked to Coulson on the other side of the glass, “Who is that? What do you want with me?” There was genuine fear in his voice.

“I’m Agent Johnson with SHIELD.” she began slowly. It hurt to explain who she was to him. He didn’t know, he didn’t know. This wasn’t Grant Ward. “The Warden wanted us to bring you in for help.”

“Why am I here?” he asked. “I did nothing to get into here. I woke up in a strange place and then next thing I know, I was on fire and the cops were bringing in the military. I did nothing wrong. I don’t even know who the hell I am!”

Skye stepped back at Grant’s sudden change in tone, “And we will help with that.” she replied. “You need help. And you cannot be left here.” She honestly didn’t know what Coulson was planning to do. There was a part of her that wanted to help him. There had been sympathy towards him after her encounter with Hive. She had been distraught to find out that he had died again. And now he was here, right in front of her. But he had no memory and he was Inhuman. It was funny to how the world decided to work. Like the universe was giving her a blank slate to work with. Like this was Grant Ward’s rebirth.

Something shone in his eyes, “You’re going to help me?” Grant asked, scooting away from her. “You don’t even know me.”

 _“Oh if you only knew.”_ Skye sighed and shook her head, “SHIELD takes in and helps people like you.” she began.

“Like me?”

“You’re Inhuman. And… And I am too. I’m in charge of the division that oversees Inhumans. If Director Coulson agrees, we’ll take you in and get you the help you need. You’re in a bad spot and you need help.”

Grant looked and her and cocked his head, “You’re not fucking with me, are you?” he asked, wariness in his voice. “You’re not trying to take advantage of me?”

“No, we’re not.” Skye looked to see Coulson wanting her to come out. “I’ve got to speak with the Director.”

She walked out and met Coulson, “So?” she asked.

“We’re bringing him in. We cannot allow a pyrokinetic, amnesiac Ward to be running around and Sinclair can’t let him stay here. He needs rehab before he gets worse. I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but I’d like to find that out.” Coulson explained, briefly looking at Grant. “We take him in to the main base where I can watch him. Separate containment module, don’t let anyone know he’s there until we can figure out what is going on.”

Skye nodded slowly, staring at the frightened Grant. Something about him was pulling at her, trying to pull her towards him. But she ignored it as she looked back to Coulson, “Are you sure that this is a good idea?”

“No, I’m not.” he replied. “Sinclair’s getting the transfer work together and she’ll get a group of guards to help transport him. We don’t need to let anyone back at base know just who we are dealing with. Not until we can figure out just what the hell is going on.”

Skye didn’t say another word, she just looked back at Grant, whom of which was staring straight back at her. There was a strange light in his eyes that was directed towards her. That pull started to come back as he continued to stare at her. But this was all wrong. He had died, his body gone. Now he was back an entire year later with powers and no memory. This wasn’t the Grant Ward that they had lost.

“What the hell happened to you, Grant?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that the first chapter is not that great and doesn't explain much, but it'll all come together in time. And it'll be a very, very wild ride. So strap in. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	2. You Take My Pain and Wash it Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grant is taken back to base and there' s more to him and Skye than previously thought.

Coulson and Skye managed to get Grant back to the base and into one of the more secluded containment modules. Seclusion was key here since Coulson didn’t want anyone finding out that their newest Inhuman was no other than Grant Ward. Him being dead was something that they still needed to believe for a while until they could figure out the details behind his sudden reappearance.

Skye led him to the unit, telling him that this was only a cautionary measure until they could figure out just what he could do. She insisted that he wouldn’t be in here for a long time, maybe just a few days. Grant was fine with it though, he seemed okay with being away from others. Skye thought that the incident in the town freaked him out and he didn’t want the risk of hurting anyone else.

She showed him the small bathroom in the module so he could clean up. They had recently been putting in private bathrooms in the modules for the more ‘stable’ Inhumans they brought in. Skye allowed him his privacy as he went in after grabbing some clothes from storage. She waited just outside of the module, fooling with some paperwork on her tablet. Coulson wanted her to monitor Grant for just a bit while he did a few other things. Grant seemed to be okay enough, for now.

He came out of the bathroom and rapped on the window of the module about thirty minutes later. Skye looked up to see a drastically different Grant Ward. He had shaved big time. His unruly beard was gone, replaced by a faint trace of stubble. And his nappy hair was now a close, military-style cut. It reminded her of how he looked when he had ‘kidnapped’ her to take her to her father. It was a little unsettling, but she had to remind herself that that Grant Ward was long gone now.

She smiled at him and went into the module, the door sliding shut behind her, “Any reason why you shaved almost all of your hair off?” she asked, placing her tablet to the side.

Grant shrugged, “I just felt dirty with all of it. It was itchy and I wanted to get rid of it. And I didn’t have much to try to do anything to my hair, so I just did a buzzcut. I’ll let it grow out again.” he explained. “It kind of felt like there were bugs on me.” He then gestured to his new wear, which was only a white t-shirt and a pair of black sweatpants, “And I don’t know what the hell that was I was wearing, but this is a whole lot better.”

“Well, you do look a lot better. You actually look nice.” Skye mentally cursed herself for complimenting him like that. But it just slipped out. Did she actually mean that?”

And she could’ve sworn that Grant was blushing. He looked down to the floor and shuffled his bare feet. “Where, uh… Where do we go now?” he asked quietly. “What I am supposed to do now?”

Skye sighed, “Well, you can rest for a while. I’ve got to go talk to Coulson so we can get things together. A few doctors will need to see you to determine the source of your amnesia and a few other medical agents will start the more in-depth part of your Indexing process.”

“Indexing?”

“We make notes of you and your powers and put it into the SHIELD system so we have a record of you. But you may be staying here a while because of your atypical case.” Skye explained, watching Grant as he moved to sit down on the edge of the module’s bed. “We need to figure out how you ended up in a town in the damned middle of nowhere without a single memory of who you are.” She took a breath, “Do you at least remember your name?”

Grant shook his head, staring down at the floor. His hands gripped the edge of the mattress, “I’m not quite sure. It’s all jumbled up in my mind.” he muttered. His fingers tightened around the sheets, “I think my name is Grant. But I don’t know a middle or a last name. But what’s the use of a last name when I don’t even remember my family?”

“Grant.” Skye stated simply. She found the word to be like honey on her lips. She hadn’t said it in so long, she had forgotten how it had sounded. “So that’s it?”

He nodded, “I guess, I really don’t care to go by anything else. It’s not like I’ve got anything to call my own since I can’t remember it. If I’ve got an identity, then it’s Grant. And only that.”

And this faintly reminded Skye of herself. Of the time where she was ‘just Skye’. Of the time when that one name was her entire identity. Now Grant was just that. Grant. That name now held his entire identity, well what little he had of it now. He was no longer Grant Ward the Hydra agent. He was no longer Grant Ward the traitor. He was no longer Grant Ward the Hydra director. And he was no longer Grant Ward, the host to Hive.

He was now just Grant, the amnesiac Inhuman with the power over fire. He now had a name to make for himself. If anything, this was a second chance, the universe deciding for him to make things right as a totally different person. The Grant Ward that had been was now dead.

Skye nodded, “That’s completely fine. You don’t have to have a full name if you don’t want to. Grant’s completely fine.”

Grant smiled back at her, “Thanks for being so caring. I honestly don’t know what to do. I woke up in that town, no memory of who the hell I was. Flames started spouting from my body and then the military showed up.” He held out his hands in front of them as he stared at them as embers started to dance within his palms, “I don’t know who I am and where I am from. I feel like there’s more to me than just this.” He looked up to Skye, “I was someone else before all of this.”

And Skye started to feel that pull towards him again, something deep within her chest. She didn’t know it, but there was something about the two of them that were supposed to be connected. She took a sharp breathe, “And I imagine that we can help you find all that out soon enough. It’ll take some time, but I do think it can happen.”

Grant smiled again, but didn’t say another word. He let his hands drop to his side and he looked away.

Skye nodded, “I’ll let you rest. I’ll be back in an hour or so.” she stated, leaving the room and Grant to himself.

Grant looked up to the door as it closed. He didn’t know why, but he could’ve sworn that he knew this woman from somewhere. It was a strange, aching feeling. And there was some kind of pull towards her he felt, like he was meant to be with her somehow. He didn’t want to think of that.

That was just too much for him to process.

* * *

 

 

(Elsewhere)  


“How does he seem?” Coulson asked, not looking up from the paperwork on his desk. “I know I need to get a psychologist for him. I can already tell he’s depressed at least.”

“He’s confused really. That’s about all I can tell at the moment. But he did remember one thing though.”

Coulson looked up with an eyebrow raised, “And that is?”

“Part of his name. He remembers Grant, but that’s it.” Skye replied, crossing her arms. “It’s something, but not much considering that his entire self was erased. But there’s nothing remaining of his past life.”

“No signs of his sociopathic tendencies?” Coulson questioned, setting the paperwork aside.

Skye shook her head, “No, not at all. He’s…” she trailed off slightly. “He’s actually kind of an awkward sweetheart now. He was nothing but nice when I explained things to him. He’s just confused and scared. Hell, anyone would be after going through something like that.”

Coulson nodded slowly, “I’ll get one of the psychologists to look at him. Well, he probably needs a psychiatrist as well. And he probably needs the proper medical scans to ensure that there’s no brain trauma causing the amnesia.” he began to explain.

He continued talking, but he started to become muffled as blood started rushing in her ears. A cold, prickly feeling settled in her stomach as it felt like something was squeezing her chest. Her airways felt constricted as Coulson was now drowned out. She knew this feeling, a panic attack. But it was odd, there was no reason for her to be panicking like this. No, this wasn’t her, this was coming from something else. _Someone_ else.

“Skye,” Coulson began, standing to his feet as he noticed Skye wavering on her own.  “Are you okay?”

Skye looked up to see Coulson, she shook her head, “Something’s wrong. Something’s going on.”

“Do I need to get a doctor?”

“No, it’s not me.” she stated. She swallowed, “It’s Ward, I can feel it. Something’s wrong with him.” She didn’t know just how she could she knew that it was Grant, but she did. Whatever was happening to her originated from him. Grant was the one having the panic attack. “He needs help!”

Coulson’s face dropped as Skye rushed out of the room. “Skye, wait!” he exclaimed, rushing off after her as she ran down the hallways. He followed her to the restricted sector of the containment area and then to Grant’s module.

Skye was already in there, kneeling next to a cowering Grant. Tears streamed down his face as flames sparked off of him. His body trembled and shook as he fought for breath between sobs.

“Grant!” Skye exclaimed, waving her hand in front of his eyes. “Can you hear me?!”

Coulson decided to stand off to the side and allow Skye to manage the situation, whatever this was.

“Grant!”

And he did look up at her, eyes wide and so full of fear, “S-Skye?” he croaked. “That you?” Something had set him off and had sent him into a violent panic attack. The module was doing its best to contain his powers just to him.

Skye smiled at him, “Yes, it’s me. Can you do me a favor and take a few deep breaths?” she asked softly. “It’s okay, no one’s going to hurt you. You’re safe, Grant.”

Coulson frowned as he watched the entire situation unfold. Skye already seemed to be very attached to Grant and he had only been here an hour. Something unnatural was happening between them and he didn’t like it. He watched as Grant was starting to calm down extremely fast as he stared into Skye’s eyes. This wasn’t natural, hell it was far from it. One didn’t simply recover from a panic attack like that this fast. Something was going on between them.

“Skye?” Grant asked again, wiping at the tears streaming down his face. “Skye?”

“Yes, Grant, it’s me. You don’t have to keep asking.” she said softly. “Can you tell me what happened?”

He shrugged numbly, “I don’t remember. I was just trying to remember things. My head started hurting and I couldn’t breathe. The next thing I know you’re here.” His voice was weak and sounded like that of a child’s. “I don’t know.”

“You had a panic attack. I really think you do need the psychologist today.” Skye continued softly. She began to reach out towards his face to wipe away a tear that was running down his cheek, “You need to talk to someone.” Her fingers brushed his skin and she almost gasped in pain. An electric-like shock jumped from his skin to hers. But it wasn’t static electricity, it was something far more different and far more personal.

Grant cocked his head and looked at Skye’s fingers, trying to figure out what happened. He looked back up to her eyes and he could feel that pull again, but about ten times worse. Something Inhuman-related just had happened between them, something that was bonding and sealing.

But Grant didn’t say a single word, he just continued to stare into Skye’s eyes.

And Coulson narrowed his eyes as he continued to watch the two of them. He didn’t know what just had happened between them, but he had a bad feeling that it was something drastic. Something that would change everything.

Skye looked back at the Director and nodded at him, “Coulson, can you go find someone for him?” she asked quietly. “I think he needs it ASAP before something else can happen.”

Coulson wasted no time getting out of there, it was getting too weird for him.

“Are you okay?” Skye asked, returning her gaze to Grant. She traced the scar underneath his right eye with a gentle finger. An euphoric buzz started to seep into her bones as she continued her skin-to-skin contact with Grant. It felt like electricity flowing through her veins. But she ripped her hand away from him, afraid of whatever the hell it was that was going on.

“Yeah, I…” Grant trailed off, unsure of what just had happened. He noticed the concern in Skye’s face, even though he longed for that contact again. He got the same feeling from it that she had gotten. “What’s going on, Skye? I think I should be asking if you’re the one that’s okay.”

Skye didn’t respond though, she only continued to stare down at her hand that she had ripped away from Ward’s skin. Fear settled into her stomach as she realized that something just had happened between the two of them, something that would change everything that they knew. Even though eye contact with Grant soothed her and told her everything was okay, she knew that it wasn’t. 

Here she was, sitting on the ground with Grant Ward of all people. She was sitting with an amnesiac Inhuman capable of immense power that barely even knew her anymore. Nothing made sense at the moment.

And she felt that euphoric buzz return as Grant suddenly grabbed her hand, only curious to see if it would happen again. Her eyes drifted to their connected hands and then the confusion etched upon the pryokinetic’s face. He was both confused and enthralled with the feeling that seeped from their connected touch. But he remained silent.

Skye continued to stare at their connected hands, even though the buzz tried to wipe away all of her stress and worries. Something big just had happened between them and she was afraid to find out just what it had been.

_“What the hell just happened?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I will further explain what just happened with Skye and Grant later on when there's more to the connection, which will be within the next couple of chapters. Due to the connection, things move between them extremely fast, so if you think that Skye's falling for him again insanely fast there's more to it than just that. What do you think it is? Keep the comments and kudos coming! (Can we get 5 or so comments?)


	3. You're Not Safe From the Demons. No One Is.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coulson finds out what is wrong with Grant. And Lincoln finds out who's in the module.

(The Next Day)  


Coulson stood outside of Grant’s module with a disproving smile as he watched Skye talking with Grant on the inside. Ever since the strange event of yesterday, he couldn’t pull Skye from the Inhuman’s side. She was constantly glued to him, even as the psychologist evaluated Ward just a bit ago. And Skye didn’t act like this was strange, she was acting like nothing bad ever happened between her and Grant. Something was going on.

“Director, in layman’s terms,” Dr. Pulski, one of SHIELD’s best psychologists, began. He casted a glance towards Grant behind the glass, “Grant is a screwed-up individual. Whatever happened to him caused brain damage, not very extensive, to the limbic system of his brain. Mainly the structure concerning memory, that can be the true cause of his amnesia. Scans the medical agents did also show some damage to his amygdala, the part mainly responsible for his emotional processing. That’s why he panics and gets so afraid so easily. And his emotions may end up being all over the place until this heals. It’s not permanent, his brain will be able to heal from this. It’s just the mental stress that comes with this.

Yes, he’s sick and needs therapy to help deal with the effects that come with the damage.” he continued. “He’ll need to see me several times a week. A psychiatrist needs to be brought in for medication needs. On the mental illness side of things, Grant is suffering from clinical depression, signs of PTSD, anxiety, and panic attacks. And it’s even stranger since he can’t recall the source of these problems. It’s like his mind remembers what happened, but he can’t. And that makes everything worse.

And he doesn’t need to be in containment with little to no interaction. He needs to be where he can be with others. I see that Agent Johnson is doing good for him, but that’s not enough. I understand your concerns about keeping him away from everyone else, he’s dangerous. But it may be good for him to out with others, take his mind off of things.”

“Pulski, it’s a deeper situation than what I can truly tell you.”

“Coulson, I know who this man is. Everyone knows who Grant Ward is.” Pulski stated coldly. “But I can tell you that that isn’t even technically Grant Ward anymore. He’s too broken to be what he once was. He needs care, not the treatment he once had. He’s no longer the Hydra director or the host of Hive. He’s just Grant. Treat him like so.

Keeping this from the rest of your team will only make things worse. It’ll only backfire. He needs to be reintroduced to them slowly, as far as I can tell he doesn’t remember any of you.”

Coulson sighed and nodded, “It’s just hard to do what’s right with him here, Pulski. You know what he did to us.”

“This isn’t that man. He’s a blank slate yearning for guidance. The right guidance. Either you or Agent Johnson can set him onto the right path. Coulson, this is like his second chance.”

Coulson didn’t respond, he only looked to Skye and Grant inside of the containment module, whom of which were now playing some kind of board game. As Grant laughed, there was a part of Coulson that could tell that this wasn’t the villain. But he couldn’t bring himself to believe so.

He never could.

* * *

 

 

Skye clenched her fist as she left the restricted sector and back towards the main part of the base. For some reason, she hated to leave Grant all alone like that, but Coulson wanted her to do something for a while. She would have to get back to Grant later on.

As she turned the corner to the team’s sector, she ran into Lincoln. He stood scowling and crossing his arms, “What’s so important in that restricted sector, Daisy?” he asked.

“One, it’s Skye again, Lincoln. How many times do I have to tell you that? And two, it’s restricted for a reason. Only me and Coulson can know who’s in there.”

Lincoln’s scowl grew, “I know it’s an Inhuman, Skye. What’s so damn important about them that you have them locked away where no one else is allowed to see them?”

“There’s certain things surrounding him, Lincoln. He can’t be around others just yet, so Coulson has him marked as off-limits.” Skye shot back.

“You’ve been in there all damned day!”

“Why the hell do you care?” she asked. “We broke off our relationship a year ago, Lincoln. Stop worrying about me, okay?” She started to push past him, “My business means nothing to you, so stop asking. There’s a reason to why you can’t know who’s in there. You’ll know in a matter of time, okay?”

Lincoln narrowed his eyes as Skye walked off, “Yeah, I’ll know if I find out.” he grumbled, starting towards the restricted sector. Something about this entire situation bothered him. Why was Skye so worried with whoever was locked in containment? He would find out, nothing would stop him.

He fried the electronic lock on the doors, causing them to slide open. Luckily, no alarm sounded and he could get in with ease. But he didn’t really know where this guy was at though. He had heard Coulson talking about module 4, so that had to be it.

Now, Lincoln had noticed how weird Skye had been acting since yesterday. She had gotten back to their sector late last night acting very strangely, like something was occupying her mind. Like she wanted to be elsewhere at that moment. She acted strained and almost sick. It was kind of like she was missing something that she really, really needed, but didn’t know what it was. Like there was a part of her missing.

It had freaked out just about everyone else, mainly because she would snap if someone would ask if she was okay. She had been trying to brush it off as though it was nothing, but it was clearly obvious that something had happened to her. And Lincoln somehow knew that it had to do with whoever was locked away inside of the module. The very person that Coulson didn’t want anyone to know about.

But just who was that damned important that they were kept a secret from everyone else? The only Inhumans that got put in the restricted sector were the ones marked for death, the ones too wild to be kept alive. But Coulson and Skye acted like this Inhuman was far from that. They acted like he was some kind of VIP, keeping him in close scrutiny for some damned reason. There was something definitely up with whoever this man was.

Lincoln made his way to the modules, all the other doors led to storage areas with dangerous equipment and stuff. Coulson had said it was module 4, so Lincoln approached the fourth one, finding some kind of protective tint on the window that led into the module’s interior. It kept the module’s inhabitant hidden from view.

There were a set of buttons on the exterior near the door. Lincoln didn’t know what any of them did, so he just fried them all to get the tint down. A faint click could be heard, he had also opened the door in turn. The Inhuman looked to the window to see the tint fading to reveal the man sitting on the edge of the bed on the inside.

The man was heavily built and had closely-cropped hair. He wore boots, a pair of jeans, and a simple black t-shirt. And he was looking down at some kind of tablet in his hands. A tablet? They didn’t give the Inhuman intakes tablets or nice clothes. Just who was this man?

Suddenly, the Inhuman inside of the module stiffened-up, as though he had sensed Lincoln on the other side of the glass. He lifted up his head and his eyes rested on Lincoln, and it felt as though someone had punched the air out of Lincoln. The man frowned, tilting his head and setting aside his tablet. He rose to his feet, clearly over six feet in height, and walked slowly over to the window to get a better look at the stranger on the other side of the glass.

Lincoln now felt sick. This was who Coulson and Skye were keeping secret from them. This was their latest Inhuman recruit. But this didn’t make sense, he was dead. Hive had killed him. But no, Lincoln was staring him straight in the eyes.

He was staring straight at the countenance of Grant Ward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm moving fast, but there's a lot to tell and a lot I want to get to. So Lincoln finds out who's in the module and won't be happy about it. But how will he really react towards Grant Ward? Will he attack or will he run? And some explanation to what is wrong with Grant, but no explanation to what happened between him and Skye. Keep the comments and kudos coming! (At least five?)


	4. Your Presence is a Burden on Us All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lincoln confronts Grant and it doesn't go well.

Now, Lincoln never knew Grant Ward personally, but he had heard enough about him from the others for him to utterly despise him with every fiber of his body. And the fact that he was now staring at the very same man behind the glass of the containment module drove his rage to a breaking point. This is who Skye and Coulson had been hiding from them since the day before. The man Skye had been so devout on hiding from him just earlier. And to think Skye had been in close proximity to him. That made him shutter.

Grant continued to stare at Lincoln, his head slightly cocked. He couldn’t figure out to why this stranger was glaring at him with such intense scorn. He had never seen this man before. “Do you want something?” he asked loudly so Lincoln could hear him from the other side of the glass. “Can I help you?”

Lincoln’s lips curled into a snarl at the sound of Grant’s voice. He didn’t know it was because it was Grant Ward or he just sounded like Hive to him. But in reality, Grant sounded far different from Hive. Hive spoke in a monotone voice while Grant’s was laced with confusion and fear, and the occasional hint of snark. But the very sound of Grant’s voice furthered his anger. Without thinking, he made his way into the room, easy since he had fried the door.

Grant frowned as Lincoln stood in front of him, “Who the hell are you?” he asked, slightly cold. He crossed his arms as Lincoln continued to glare at him, “I thought Coulson and Skye were the only ones allowed in here.”

“Why the hell are you here?” Lincoln hissed, still glaring at Grant. “Why the hell are you still alive?”

“Alive? I, uh, don’t understand what the hell you are talking about. I’m here because SHIELD took me in. Coulson said I had to stay in here for a couple of days until they can figure out what they can do with me. I should be out of here soon.” he explained, confusion lacing his voice. “I don’t know what you could possibly mean.”

“Cut the shit.” Lincoln spat. “You’re just making all of this up, aren’t you? Inhuman my ass. You were dead.”

Grant’s face fell, “Dead? No, I don’t think I was ever dead. I woke up just a few days ago in a town I didn’t know with powers I didn’t understand. I don’t remember anything about my life before that point, but I don’t think that I was ever dead. You’ve got me mistaken for someone else.”

“No, I don’t.” He now started to get awfully close to Grant, making the newborn Inhuman highly uncomfortable. “I know who you are, I know the things that you’ve done. And I don’t like the fact that you’re waltzing around in here under the protection of Coulson. You’re even getting better treatment than all the other Inhumans SHIELD takes in. What the hell is going on with you?”

He felt his chest start to tighten with his growing anxiety. He absolutely hated it when people got in his face, especially when they started yelling at him. “Look, just leave me alone, okay?” he halfway pleaded. “I don’t know who you are! What the fuck is your problem?!”

Lincoln snarled once more and sent a jolt of electricity at Grant, hitting him square in the chest and knocking him to the ground. He loomed above the fallen Inhuman, “I don’t appreciate you being here. I don’t appreciate you taking D-Skye.”

“Taking Skye?” Grant asked, scooting away slowly as fire began to dance in his eyes. “I didn’t take anyone! She’s helping me, that’s all!” Smoke started to rise from his fingertips, “Leave me the hell alone!”

“You’re gonna get what you deserve!” Lincoln snapped, approaching him again. “You’re the one that originally hurt her! Now you’ve taken her away!”

Grant scooted back again. He was now finding it hard to breathe and his heart was beating rapidly. Another panic attack that he didn’t want. Lincoln now had him cornered into the module’s corner and he started to curl up into a ball as the panic attack took him over, tears streaming down his face, “I did nothing to you! I don’t know you! Leave me alone, please!”

Lincoln stopped momentarily, surprised at Grant’s sudden breakdown. But he resumed his path, “You think that you can come in here and have everything work for your favor? You are so fucking wrong.” He turned his hands towards Grant, ready to attack the panicking man. “You,”

“Lincoln, what the hell are you doing?!”

He turned around to see Skye storming towards him, “Skye,” he began, a scowl on his face. “I,”

Skye growled at him and swung her fist at him, it connecting with his nose with a sickening crunch. Lincoln fell to the ground, holding his nose that was now spewing blood. “There’s a reason to why this sector is restricted, Lincoln!” she exclaimed. “There’s a reason to why I told you to stay out of here! But of course you didn’t listen and I find you trying to kill him! Look at him! He’s in no condition to fight!”

Lincoln scoffed, still holding his nose, “Then why the hell were you keeping the fact that Grant Ward is alive and powered from us, Skye?” he asked coldly. “I pretty sure that is something that everyone needs to know.”

“Because his situation is a dangerous one. He’s a complete amnesiac, he has no idea to who we are or who he is. We can’t go throwing him straight into the fold. Coulson wanted to make sure everything was calm before he told everyone else.” she explained. “He was planning on doing so soon, but you had to ruin it.”

“He’s a monster!”

“Look at him!” She pointed at the cowering Grant, “Does that look like a monster to you? He can’t go five minutes without a violent panic attack! Hive left him damaged and broken. Brain damage erased his memories and left him with the inability to control his emotions. All you’re doing is making him worse.”

Skye turned from Lincoln and immediately got to Grant’s side, helping him up, “Hey, shh, it’s me, Grant.” she whispered softly, running her hand down his back. “It’s okay, he’s not going to hurt you anymore. You’re safe. Just listen to my voice and settle down, okay? You’re gonna be fine.”

Lincoln stood up, holding his bleeding nose and frowning. Just what the hell was going on between them? Didn’t they retrieve Grant just yesterday? Now Skye was all over him and acting like nothing bad ever happened between them. Hell, she had been acting really odd ever since yesterday. Lincoln decided to remain silent.

Skye had sensed Grant’s panic attack just a bit before it had started and had immediately begun running for him. But she had been a ways from the restricted sector. “Grant, can you hear me?” she asked, still running her hand up and down his back.

Grant slowly looked up, tears staining his face, “Skye?” he croaked, his body shaking. “Skye?”

She smiled at him, “Yes, it’s me. You’re okay, Grant.”

“Skye.” he breathed, a small and weak smile forming on his face. But he didn’t say anymore, he only tried to bury himself deeper into Skye’s body. It didn’t work out all that well though due to the stark difference in their sizes. His body continued to shake, but the tears had stopped.

Skye looked up to Lincoln with a scowl, “You see just what the hell you’ve done?” she growled. “You deserve more than a broken nose.”

“And why the hell are you protecting him, Skye?” Lincoln asked, his own blood covering his hands. “You know who and what he is. He doesn’t deserve this treatment. He should be in jail or dead!”

“Why should he be punished for something that he doesn’t remember, Lincoln? I’ve observed him closely ever since yesterday and I can tell you that he’s not who he used to be.” Skye was glad that Grant had zoned out and wasn’t listening. “Grant Ward’s gone, he’s just Grant now.”

Lincoln began to open his mouth to respond, but Skye shut him up with a glare and a shake to the ground. He snarled at them and stepped back. This entire sight was sickening to him.

“What the ever-living hell is going on here?”

Both Skye and Lincoln looked to see Coulson stalk into the room. The Director’s eyes immediately went to the blood on Lincoln’s hands and nose and then to the zoned-out Grant in Skye’s arms.

“Lincoln was about to kill Grant, I stopped him and punched him in the nose.” Skye spat, drawing Grant’s frame closer to her. “He broke your rules, Coulson.”

Coulson turned to glare at Lincoln, “Lincoln, I have him in the restricted sector for a reason. No one else is allowed to know about him until I can figure out what to do with him. He’s a special case and I’d like to get him settled before everyone else starts flipping out over him.” he explained. “I was going to tell everyone tomorrow, but now it looks as though I’m gonna have to do it now. Rules are rules, Lincoln. You weren’t allowed in here. Go get your nose fixed up and meet me in my office. There I’ll decided just what I’m going to do.”

Lincoln snarled again and spun around, leaving the room in a storm of fury.

With a sigh, Coulson turned to look at Skye and Grant, “Is he okay?” he asked quietly, trying not to disturb him.

Skye shrugged, “I think so. He was worse earlier.”

“Skye, how did you know that he was in trouble? I know that you were nowhere near here.”

“I felt it.”

“Felt it?”

“I don’t know. My chest tightened and I just knew that there was something wrong with Grant. It happened yesterday too. Why are you asking?” Skye did find this connection slightly weird, but she honestly didn’t care. There was something about being with Grant that calmed and soothed her. She liked being with him. She ran her hands down his bare arms, reestablishing that euphoric buzz and hoping that he was getting it too.

Coulson narrowed his eyes, deciding to not further elaborate on it, “No particular reason.” He took a sharp breath, “Skye, I am going to have to tell the others now that Grant’s alive and is here. It’s not going to go smoothly. I’d rather not have him in the room. I’ll tell them. Do you mind staying in here with him? Just make sure that he calms down and returns to normal.”

Skye nodded, “I don’t mind.” Her eyes drifted to Grant, who now seemed to be coming out of it, “I don’t mind at all.”

“Good. God, I hope this goes well.” Coulson muttered, leaving the room.

Skye returned her attention to Grant, “Hey, Grant, can you hear me? Can you get up for me?”

To her surprise, Grant actually nodded and tried to stand up. But he was very shaky. He stumbled his way over to the bed and sat down on the edge. He looked at Skye, “I’m fine. I’m fine.” he reassured her. “As long as that asshole’s gone.”

She smiled back at him, getting up and taking her place next to him on the edge of the bed, “Grant, don’t worry, he’s not going to bother you again.” she stated firmly, lacing her fingers with his. “I’ll make sure of that.”

Grant smiled back at her, “Thank you for caring for me, Skye. I know that this is all probably really weird for you.”

“Trust me, it’s not. It’s far from that.”

“You just met me yesterday, Skye. Why care so much already?”

Skye’s stomach dropped, she honestly didn’t know the answer to that. Why did she care so much so soon? Her stomach grew cold. Ever since yesterday when he had had that first panic attack, when she had actually felt what he was suffering. And when that spark between them happened, something drastic had happened between them. God, she felt sick to her stomach. If she hadn’t of had agreed to watch him she would run out now and get far away. But there was a part of her that wanted to stay here in Grant’s embrace.

“Skye?”

She looked up to see concern written all over Grant’s face, “Hmm?”

“Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah, I’m fine.” she muttered. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.” She leaned her head onto his broad shoulder and took a breath.

_“No, I’m far from fine. Something’s wrong with the both of us.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there you go. Lincoln's in trouble. Coulson has decided to tell the others. And Skye's questioning just what has happened between her and Grant. Keep the comments and kudos coming! (Maybe five or so?)


	5. You've Got to Deal With Things You Hate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coulson tells the team the truth behind the new Inhuman.

(A Little Later)

Coulson took a breath, standing in front of the team. They all eyed him warily, unsure to what was really going on. “Now, I’m sure that you’re all wondering to why I’ve wanted you to come here.” he began. “I was hoping to keep this all under wraps for a little while longer until I could truly figure out just what to do, but rule breaking has jeopardized it.”

May raised an eyebrow, “What are you going on about?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, what is this?” Mack agreed, looking at everyone else.

“You all know that Skye and I brought in an Inhuman just the other day. One that we had to put into the restricted sector due to problems that he has. No one was allowed to see him until I had everything straightened out. But Lincoln ruined that.” Coulson explained. “Now I do have to be honest with you to who this Inhuman really is.”

“Then who is he?” Simmons asked, frowning. “Why keep him such a secret from all of us?”

Coulson took another breath, “Because this Inhuman is Grant Ward.”

The team went so quiet that you could actually hear a pin drop. Everyone exchanged strained glances with one another. No one knew what to say to Coulson’s revelation.

“Coulson,” May began. “What the hell are you talking about? Grant Ward’s dead. Hive killed him. Hell, it destroyed his body. How is he alive?”

“That’s the part that I don’t know. The military picked him up in the middle of nowhere in California finding him with pyrokinetic powers. The warden of the prison they had him at contacted me. Skye and I went to pick him up and found that it was him. We took him back in to ensure that nothing happened.”

“Why keep this from us?” Simmons squeaked. “Why?”

“Because he… He’s not Grant Ward anymore. I didn’t want you all overreacting and attacking him like Lincoln did. He has total amnesia, doesn’t remember anything prior to his reappearance at all. He’s lucky that he remembers that his name is Grant. Like I said, he’s not Grant Ward, he’s just Grant. And as far as I can tell, he’s totally different than Ward. Grant is soft-spoken and nervous, but has a big heart. He’s not the same man anymore. Grant Ward is gone.”

“But wouldn’t you think that we would like to know this?” Fitz questioned, not sure of what to think. “Wouldn’t you think that we would want to know that Ward’s alive and powered?”

Coulson sighed, “He’s in a very bad place right now. I didn’t want him interacting with any of us. Hive caused brain damage for him. Affected the limbic system in his brain, mainly the parts involving memory and emotion. He’s emotionally unstable and has had several panic attacks just since he’s gotten here the other day. He needed some time to be with himself before coming out. I was planning out letting him out tomorrow or the next day. It may be today.

He has a psychologist, he says that Ward being out with others could help his condition. His damage has caused him several mental issues. Clinical depression, PTSD, anxiety, you name it. He doesn’t need to be alone.”

“What makes you think that it’ll be a good idea for that bastard to be around us?” Mack asked, narrowing his eyes.

“’Cause I’m hoping that you will all understand that he’s not the same man. He doesn’t need to be treated like such when he’s not able to remember what he did. I hope that you can at least feign kindness long enough to be around him. Hatred will only make things worse when he desperately needs to heal. He’ll be in the bunk right next to Skye’s since she’s the one in charge of him now.”

“In charge of him?” Simmons asked in a low voice, clearly displeased with the revelations. “Is that where she’s been?”

“In addition to all of this, I believe that something has happened between the two since yesterday.” Coulson continued, not sure of how to explain it. “Skye was fine up until yesterday. She was in my office and sensed that Ward was having a violent panic attack. Not just sensed, she experienced it like she was having one too. It happened earlier when Lincoln attacked him. Lincoln wanted to know who it was and broke his way into the module, causing Ward to slip into another panic attack. Skye experienced that one as well and managed to get there and stop Lincoln before he could kill Ward. Now she’s very clingy with him and vice-versa. I don’t know what happened.”

“An empathetic link?” Simmons questioned. “That’s what that sounds like. Sounds like they’re bloody connected. Is that an Inhuman thing? ‘Cause that sounds completely horrible.”

“Like I said, I don’t know what’s going on. But it’s keeping Grant grounded and Skye seems to be fine with it. They both seem to be happy, so I’m not going to ask any questions until it gets worse.” Coulson stated firmly. “But Grant will be moving into our sector, but Skye is the one in charge of him and will make sure nothing happens. And I don’t want any of you touching him, because that will only set him off and make things worse for us. That is my rule. Do you understand?”

There was no answer.

“I said, do you understand?”

He got mumbles in response.

“You better keep your word.”

* * *

 

 

Skye opened her eyes to find Grant wrapped around her, his face buried into her neck. Her heart skipped a few beats, when did this happen? She didn’t even remember falling asleep on his bed. But a majority of her didn’t care, she felt happy to be in his embrace. But there was still that growing sliver of her that doubted this, that was afraid of whatever was happening to them. She had to get away from him for a while.

Wriggling herself out of Grant’s arms, she slid off of the bed and to her feet. She looked down at Grant’s sleeping form. He looked so peaceful considering who he really was and what he was truly capable of. His face twitched and he turned over, mumbling in his sleep. She actually found it kind of cute, but tried to shake that thought off. She couldn’t let herself get attached to Grant Ward again, that would only lead her down a bad path again.

But would it really? Again, this was far from Grant Ward. This was Grant the amnesiac, Grant the pyrokinetic Inhuman. This wasn’t the Grant Ward that had been a traitor. He wasn’t going to hurt anyone. If anything, he was now a total sweetheart and only wanted the best for her. And he technically had only known her for two days and was already this attached to her. She knew that it was a part of whatever was happening between them.

Everything was happening so fast around them that she had to stop to really think about it. And that’s what made her sick to her stomach. She needed some time to herself to really understand just what was going on, well what little of it she could honestly understand. Maybe she could take a few days and try to stay away from Grant as much as she could in order to reduce the strange connection that was building between them before it could get too much for the both of them.

But could this connection really be severed? There was a part of her that knew whatever this truly was was actually permanent and couldn’t be taken away. But what was this connection building between them? And why had it happened all so fast. She went from not caring for him to being completely enthralled with him, and she was mentally slapping herself for that. But that feeling was starting to melt away with every minute she spent with Ward. But she knew that she needed at least a day or two away from him.

She began towards the window, just to look out of it, as Grant’s voice filled the room. “Skye? Where are you going?” he asked, grogginess filling his voice. “Are you leaving?”

Skye turned to see Grant sitting up in the middle of the bed, cocking his head at her. She shook her head, “No, I’m not leaving, Grant.” she replied. “I’m not leaving.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“Just thinking.”

“About what?”

She bit her lip, trying to ignore the confused look in Grant’s eyes that was pulling her back towards him, “Oh, just too much. You wouldn’t understand any of it, I’m afraid.”

Grant frowned and slid off the bed, approaching her, “Is it about me?” he asked, coming to stand beside her.

“No, it’s not. It’s just other things involving SHIELD.” Lying. She was completely lying to him and she actually felt bad about it. “It’s not you, Grant.”

“Oh, okay.” He reached gingerly for her arm and the spark reignited between their skin, temporarily surprising Skye. And that euphoric buzz returned. It was obvious by the look on Grant’s face that he deeply enjoyed this, this buzz kept him calm and grounded. But it still bothered her, she didn’t know where this was coming from. And as Grant tried to move closer to her, to get more of the buzz, she found herself doing the same thing despite one, single thought floating in her mind:

_“I need to get away from this. I need some time on my own. Something is wrong here. Very wrong.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's about to go down from here. The team knows about Grant now and Grant is to move into their sector. And Skye's so conflicted about this growing connection that she needs time for herself. But is that time to herself really a good thing for the both of them? Keep the comments and kudos coming! (Maybe 6 or so?)


	6. And I Can't Handle Myself Without You.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye finds that isolating herself from Grant has dire consequences.

So Coulson got around to moving Grant into the base’s main sector about three days later. Several things had come up and he hadn’t had the chance to truly deal with it and he also had to get things together to make sure that Grant was safe in his ‘new’ area. Grant had then immediately locked himself in his room once Coulson had showed him around, mainly because of one thing.

He hadn’t seen Skye in three days.

He somehow knew that she was avoiding him for some reason and that was just making things worse. Here he was, surrounded by people that he didn’t know and the only person he had attached himself to wouldn’t even stop by to see how he was doing. And he hated going out of his room, because the sector’s inhabitants would all glare at him like he was some kind of monster. But he had never done anything to him, well so he believed. He didn’t remember who he really was to them.

And their glares only made things worse for him. Every time one of them would send a scathing glare his way, he could feel his chest tightening. He would have to run to seclusion to keep himself from slipping into a panic attack once more. And it had only been three days. The only places he would go were the gym and the kitchen, and he had to practically sneak around to avoid any of the others.

And where was Skye in all of this?

Now four days had passed without a single glance of her and he was growing worried. The worry was a gnawing sickness in the pit of his stomach, like he wanted to throw up. The worry was also a mind-numbing migraine that kept him confined to his room for most of the day. He had only known her for little over a week now, and her absence left him feeling empty. Like a part of him was missing.

Grant just felt wrong without Skye’s fingers on his skin, without that buzz sparking between them. He didn’t have any clue to what it truly was, but did he really care? Whatever it was, he loved it. Whenever she was around, he felt safe. Like there wasn’t a single thing wrong with him. Like he had the entire world. And he also felt happy, an emotion he normally didn’t feel lately.

His psychologist had said he was very sick, resulting from whatever had happened to him before the ‘accident’ that had wiped his memory. Clinical depression, signs of PTSD, anxiety, and a few other things he could remember. There really wasn’t a time where he wasn’t scared to death or completely freaking out for one reason or another. He found it extremely hard to be happy now. And Skye had practically been his only source of just that.

Coulson had tried his best to give Grant some distractions that would keep him calm and grounded. The Director had found that Grant still really loved reading and had Skye set him up a tablet with hundreds of books on it for him to have. And Grant usually kept himself busy in the gym. But nothing gave him the happiness that Skye’s touch gave him.

And now it had been five days.

Five days without her was now totally tearing him down. His migraines were just about unbearable and he had already thrown up a few times now. He tried to distract himself from the pain by trying to give it his all in the gym, but he wasn’t having all that much luck.

The excruciating pain from the ever-growing migraine was starting to make his vision go blurry and he was unstable on his feet. His entire body felt numb and he could hardly tell what he was doing as he leaned against the weight rack for support. Black spots danced at the edge of his vision and his knees started to buckle. And as he started to fall, he blindly groped at the rack for some kind of support. But all that did was cause the weights to fall off of it and crash to the ground with a loud, splintering noise.

Grant hit the ground with a thud, out cold by the time his head ever hit the mat. Unconsciousness had taken him and he wouldn’t wake up for a while, only because he needed something to do so.

And he was unaware of the situation that had just occurred at the very same time across the sector.

* * *

 

 

 

(Elsewhere, A Little Bit Ago)  


Skye stumbled down the hall, trying to head for the main room where mostly everyone else, excluding Grant of course, was at. She was still trying to avoid him ever since she got freaked out by whatever connection had occurred between them. But in reality that only had made things a whole lot worse for her.

She had been plagued by horrible migraines for about the past few days and a gnawing stomachache that made her feel sick. She really hadn’t attributed this to anything other than maybe that she had picked up a virus from someone. Maybe she was sick and this would just all pass within a matter of a few days or so. She didn’t know the real cause of this ‘sickness’. She didn’t realize that it all had truly started just a little while after she had isolated herself from Grant.

As Skye stumbled her way into the common room, she got the attention of mostly everyone in there. Lincoln sat scowling in the corner, a heavy bandage on his nose from where Skye had broken it. Fitzsimmons looked up from their place on the couch with Mack and Elena. And Joey stood nonchalantly behind said couch. Only Coulson and May weren’t there.

And of course Grant.

Well, she didn’t know to where Grant actually was. He was either in the gym or his room, the two places that she tended to avoid now. She was just afraid of that connection between them, even though it was actually something natural between them. It was supposed to happen for whatever reason.

And she didn’t know that she was technically making herself sick.

She plopped down in the chair opposite the couch and Simmons eyed her weakened frame.

“Skye, are you okay?” the biochemist asked. “You look a little weak.”

Skye waived a dismissive hand, “It’s just a migraine and a stomachache, that’s all. I think I’m just getting sick or something.”

“Have you taken anything for it?”

“Yes, I’ve taken just about every damned thing. Nothing works. If anything, it’s getting worse by the minute. It won’t go away.”

“How long has this been going on?”

Skye narrowed her eyes, mainly to block out most of the light that was hurting them, “About four days.” she replied, rubbing at her temples. “I’ve felt like shit ever since.”

“Why haven’t you come by the lab? I’m sure that I have something.” Simmons stated, crossing her arms. “You could’ve been better by now.”

“I’ll be fine. Give it a few days.”

In reality, she wouldn’t be fine until one, certain thing happened. This would only continue to get worse as long as she kept herself away from _him._ There was pretty much only one cure to this, and she was keeping herself away from it.

“No, you won’t. I think you need some kind of medicine or something. I…”

The rest of Simmons tirade was drowned out by the rushing of blood in her ears. Her chest started to tighten, kind of like it did when Grant had his panic attacks. But this was much worse this time Black spots started dancing in the edges of her and she started to sway in her seat.

“Yo, Tremors, you okay?” Mack asked, rising from his seat. “Tremors?”

But Skye didn’t respond, she couldn’t. Everything was freezing up as the black spots grew and overtook her vision. And suddenly the floor came rushing up to meet her. Everyone screamed and ran towards her as her head hit the floor.

“Mack, you and Elena go get the medical agents!” Simmons cried. “Lincoln, go get Coulson! Fitz, you help me!”

Everyone started running around, following Simmons’ orders. Skye laid unconscious on the floor, everyone unaware that this wasn’t the only problem that they were dealing with. Someone else laid unconscious just across the sector, suffering from the very same thing that Skye was suffering from.

They had no idea the extent of the connection between Skye and Grant Ward.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I know that this chapter was a little short, but it still works. The next chapter is where a whole lot is revealed about the extent of their connection and to why they both collapsed at the same time but in different areas. Keep the comments and kudos coming! (6 or so?)


	7. You're Like Another Part of Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simmons finds out more about this 'link'.

“I just don’t understand this at all.” Simmons stated, looking at Skye who laid unconscious in the infirmary bed. “Lincoln and I cannot find anything physically wrong with her. There’s no illness in her body whatsoever. There’s another source to whatever it is that’s wrong with her. And it’s also like she’s in pain, but again no physical cause.”

It had been about an hour since Skye had passed out in the common room and since Simmons had immediately started medical tests. But like she had said, there was nothing physical to her problem.

“Well, her brain scans are abnormal, like something’s missing from them.” Lincoln added on to Simmons’ explanation. “It’s… It’s really hard to explain. But there’s nothing wrong physically with her brain, whatever it is is mental in itself. We can’t find a way to explain it whatsoever.”

Coulson sighed and ran his hands through his hair, “So you can’t find me an explanation to why one of my agents suddenly passed out and won’t wake up?” he asked, stress lacing his voice. His eyes drifted to Skye’s body, “Is there even a way to get her out of this?”

“Sir,” Simmons began lightly, not sure of how to explain things to the Director. “Like we said, we don’t even know what’s truly causing this. So, we don’t know if she’ll actually come out of this. It’s not a coma, but nothing we do will wake her up.” She took a sharp breath and shook her head, “We don’t know what to do. The best thing to do is to give this time. We just have to see what happens.”

Silence followed Simmons’ answer. Coulson, her, and Lincoln were the only ones in the room. Coulson didn’t want everyone in the room as Simmons and Lincoln worked to figure out what was wrong, now he had to figure out just how to explain all of this to the others. And all of this made his stomach tighten. He hated to see Skye like this, unable to wake up. It was almost kind of like when she had gotten shot by Quinn. No, it wasn’t that bad. She wasn’t dying this time.

He continued to stare at Skye’s unconscious form, unsure of what to do or what to say. There really wasn’t anything they could do about this. Simmons was right, they had to let time take over in this case. Only time could tell with whatever the hell it was that was happening with her. And Coulson just felt so helpless since there was nothing that anyone could do.

Everything had been moving so fast. They just had found out that Grant Ward was alive and had no memories whatsoever, and was also a pyrokinetic Inhuman. And then something between him and Skye had suddenly been happening. Coulson was unsure to what was truly even happening anymore. He just hoped that it all didn’t get worse.

But of course it would get worse.

The room door suddenly flew open and they all spun around to see Mack standing in the doorway, a grim expression on his face. And Mack wasted no time telling them what was going on.

“Another agent found Ward passed out in the gym.” he blurted out. “He’s out cold, no one can get him to wake up.”

And it was like a chilled breeze washed through the room and froze them into place. Both Coulson and Lincoln’s eyes went to Simmons, whose face had grown pale.

“Ward too?” she croaked. Her eyes drifted to Skye and then back to Mack once a thought had popped into her head, “Get him brought in this room as well.” she ordered. “Something’s going on here and I need to figure it out.” She turned towards Lincoln, “You go with Mack to help get Ward.”

Lincoln frowned, his hatred of Grant showing, “Look, I,” he began.

“Agent Campbell,” Coulson growled, crossing his arms. “You will do as Agent Simmons says. I don’t care that you hate Grant Ward, but there is something really, really wrong going on here. Now isn’t the time for this.”

He grumbled but complied as he ran out of the room, following Mack.

Coulson turned towards Simmons, “Jemma, what do you think is going on?” he asked softly, worry in his voice. “Why bring Ward in here too?”

Simmons shrugged, “I really don’t know for sure, but I have a hunch that it’s connected with whatever is happening to Skye. Just think, both Skye and Ward pass out in similar time frames. Hell, maybe they passed out within mere moments of one another. We just don’t know because no one was watching Ward.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“You told us that something weird had happened between the two of them, right?”

“Yeah, but I don’t see what this has to do with anything.”

Simmons pointed at Skye, “What if whatever happened between the two of them, whatever it is that is causing them to be connected or whatnot, is causing this?” she questioned. “I don’t know how or why, but it seems likely. That’s why he needs to be brought into here along with Skye so the both of them can be studied at the same time. Whatever is happening with them is connected somehow.”

Coulson nodded slightly, unsure of everything that was going on. “Okay, do what you need to do.” he stated. “Figure this damn stuff out before something even worse can happen.”

Simmons nodded in response and stepped to the side as the door swung open once more and a group of agents wheeled Grant in on a medical bed. She gulped and started barking out orders, “Alright, put his bed right next to hers. And everyone move out, get out of here! I need room to work! It’s all or nothing!”

* * *

 

 

(Two Hours Later)  


Simmons came back into the infirmary room with a stack of papers in her hands and just about a million different questions that had no answers. After numerous tests had proved that there still was nothing physical to whatever was happening to Skye and Grant. But it was still so weird that the very same thing was happening to the both of them and had no apparent cause. Simmons still believed that it was related to whatever connection Coulson had told them about, but she still wasn’t quite sure.

She paused as soon as she stepped into the room, her eyes resting on the beds. Grant’s bed was empty and he had moved to Skye’s bed, the two of them intertwined with one another. Well, Coulson had been spot on with the part about them being suddenly clingy, but this was too weird. Skye had hated Grant’s guts not all too long ago. It had been something had occurred while she had been controlled by Hive that had changed her feelings about him. Skye had said that Grant had broken through Hive’s possession and had saved her from something, but had never mentioned what it had been. And after his supposed death, she had fallen into some sort of funk for a while that had soon died off since she had convinced herself that she had no longer cared, even though that was far from the truth.

But Simmons still found it extremely weird that they were so intertwined and touchy with one another. Wait. Just how had they gotten like this? They had been out cold for the past few hours now. Well, Grant had been the one that moved it seemed. But it was still strange.

Simmons went over and began checking them thoroughly. Their bodies were usually calm despite earlier. Earlier they had been acting like they were in immense pain for some reason, now they were fine. Simmons had been gone for a while, so there was no telling to when the pain had subsided. But within a time frame of two hours was unnaturally short for pain like that to subside like this. Her eyes drifted to the monitors, the ones watching over their vitals, and that’s when she noticed the truly weird thing.

Their vitals were the same. Like they were in sync.

Both of their heart rates were in what was considered to be normal range for an Inhuman, but were the exact same. Same went for their respiration rate. And the weirdest of all was their brain activity. Simmons had EEG monitors strapped to the both of them since Skye’s brain activity had been weird. But now it was completely back to normal, and was the exact same as Grant’s.

They were in sync in all vital aspects, like they were one being.

Simmons stepped back, her mouth slightly agape, “This doesn’t make sense.” she muttered, her eyes surveying the two Inhumans. “I’ve never seen anything like this. They’re connected both physically and mentally. Like two parts to one whole. That explains to why they both passed out at the same time, but why did they pass out? I don’t understand. And if Coulson was right about Skye being able to experience Ward’s pain, then there’s some kind of strong empathic link between them. This doesn’t make any since whatsoever.”

She frowned as Skye suddenly let out a groan and buried herself further into Grant’s body, “This is just insane.” she stated to herself. “This is unbelievable. They’re linked in just about every aspect. This has to be some kind of Inhuman thing, but there has been nothing like this with any of the other Inhumans we’ve brought in. I just don’t understand.”

Simmons knew that she would have to do more tests when the two Inhumans woke up, she wanted to know just about everything to whatever the hell this was that was going on between the two of them. The two Inhumans were physically and mentally linked somehow, and Simmons wanted to know just what was causing it. And she was afraid that it was going to get even weirder than this.

But the true cause behind this link would shake everyone to their core when it would finally come around.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, and there's way more to this connection. Skye and Grant are linked both physically and mentally somehow. And I can't wait to explain the true cause behind it soon enough, because it's great. Oh, and if you're looking for any of my other stories, I'll get to them soon. I haven't had much motivation for those, but I'll get to at least Out of the Fire tomorrow. Keep the comments and kudos coming! (6 maybe?)


	8. I Don't Wanna Do This on My Own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coulson and Simmons try to figure out a way to find the meaning behind the link. And Skye becomes accepting of what has happened.

“I’ve never heard of such.” Lincoln began, crossing his arms as he looked at Simmons. “Two Inhumans being totally in sync like that? I… I don’t know what the hell to call that.”

Simmons took a deep breath, not sure of where her findings were going. She had reported what she had noted of Skye and Grant when she had come back into the infirmary room. Neither Coulson nor Lincoln could believe it. “But couldn’t this be related to their Inhuman genetics?” she suggested. “That’s the only thing I can think of.”

Lincoln shrugged, “It’s likely, but again I’ve never heard of such. Jiayang once did mention that Inhumans were capable of ‘mating’ and becoming life-long companions, but this is like a whole other level. The fact that they’re connected on just about every level is unfathomable. Perhaps it’s like the mating thing, but there’s something else involved.”

“Something else?” Coulson questioned, raising an eyebrow. “What do you mean by ‘something else’?”

“This isn’t a natural ‘mating’ process or whatever the hell Jiayang said it was. It’s like an unbreakable bond forms between the two Inhumans. They can’t hurt one another and they’ll die for one another. That’s about it. There was nothing about empathic, mental, or physical link. None of that weird shit.” Lincoln rubbed at the bandage on his nose, “There’s something bigger at play here. Yes, it’s probably due to their Inhuman genetics, but something else is making it grow to this degree.”

“Do we still have any of the texts from Afterlife?” Coulson questioned, uneasiness brewing deep within his chest.

“Yeah, why?”

“It is possible that there could be something about whatever the hell this is that is going on somewhere within them?”

Lincoln scoffed and shook his head, “I don’t know, probably. But there’s a lot of texts. It would take days to find anything. And if you think that I would willingly look for any of that, you’re wrong.” He feigned a smile, “I hate Ward with ever fiber in my body. And I’m starting to get to the point where I don’t like Skye either. Hell, she broke my fucking nose. The only reason why I helped her is because I’m technically a medical agent. Whatever the hell that is happening between them is just disgusting. It’s sick.”

Coulson repressed any kind of scathing comment against the Inhuman and sighed, “You do realize that she broke your nose because you were about to kill Ward, right?” he asked. “You broke the very rules that I laid out, Campbell. There are consequences. And if you don’t want to help, why are you even in here?”

“I’d like to know that myself.”

“Then get the hell out of here, Simmons and I can figure something out on our own.”

Lincoln’s lips curled into a snarl and he spun on his heels and stormed out of the room.

Simmons nodded slowly, “Well, now since that’s over,” she began, looking back at Coulson. “Where were we?”

“The texts.” Coulson stated lightly. “We have them in storage ever since we retrieved them from Dr. Garner’s house. But some of the research agents noted Terrigen residue on some of them and it’s probably not good for a human to be handling them. As a just in case. And I don’t want to make Joey or Elena do it and Lincoln’s out of the question.”

“Then who the bloody hell is supposed to figure anything out?”

Coulson pinched the bridge of his nose with his prosthetic hand, “I don’t know. Skye seemed so freaked out by whatever was going on before, maybe she’d like to figure it out on her own. It’s her mother’s books anyways. Once she and Grant are back up and running, which probably isn’t soon, maybe she would be willing to figure it out.

But I did notice something. Didn’t Skye start acting sick just right after she refused to see Ward?” he questioned. “So is it possible that the ‘sickness’ occurred as a result of them being apart?”

Simmons blinked, her mouth slightly agape, “You know, I think you’re right. She refused to see him soon after you told us, she started acting weird not too much later. Then she immediately gets better when Ward is brought into the room, and the same could definitely be said about him.” she explained. “It’s like they can’t be apart without growing sick. Like some kind of extreme form of separation anxiety. They have to be together or else they get sick. That’s the only explanation. God, this link they have is bloody strange.”

Coulson bit his lip, “So if there was no separating them before, there’s no way that that’s happening now.” he commented. “I don’t know just what the hell is going on here, but I don’t like it. And it’s giving me a headache.”

“But what do you think could be behind all of this?”

“I don’t fucking know.”

* * *

 

 

 

(Elsewhere)

Skye stared up at the ceiling of the infirmary room, thoughts assaulting her. Just what the hell was going on between her and Grant? Now that he was by her side, she felt like she had the entire world. Whatever sickness had taken hold of her had vanished as Grant lay by her. But now, that worry and fear about this connection was starting to fade. Yes, she did want to find out about it, but it no longer scared her. She actually wanted to be by Grant’s side and his touch sent shivers down her spine.

And was she really one to complain though? Ever since Grant’s rebirth, if that is what you could truly call it, he had been nothing but a total sweetheart. He did seem to have a bit of an anger issue, but not that much. He just wanted the best for her and wasn’t bothered by the fact that they were totally enthralled with one another despite only ‘knowing’ each other for just over a week. And he seemed to be handling his powers very well, so far.

And Simmons had said that the both of them had passed out at the same time, despite being in different areas of the sector. She was desperately trying to find the cause, but the two of them were completely okay. Skye knew deep down that it had something to do with the growing ‘connection’ between them.

“Skye?”

She almost jumped at Grant’s sudden voice, but it did make her happy to hear him. She turned on her side to see Grant’s bright, brown eyes staring straight at her, a dorkish smile on his face. “Hey.” she stated simply, threading her fingers with his.

“Where are we?” he asked, eyes slightly closing as the buzz reignited between them, sending electricity through his nerves.

“The infirmary. Apparently we both passed out somehow. Simmons is trying to figure out just what happened to us.” Skye began to explain, taking her free hand to trace the contours of Grant’s face. “But we’re okay, that’s all that matters.”

“We both passed out? That doesn’t make sense.” Confusion laced his voice. “How the hell could the both of us pass out?”

Skye led her fingers down the cover of Grant’s thickening stubble, he hadn’t shaved in a few days. “I don’t know.” she muttered. “I think it’s confusing everyone, but they’re trying to figure something out.”

“Skye? Do you think that something weird is happening between us?”

She frowned, pulling back from him, “What do you mean?”

“Well, we did just meet last week and now we can’t stand to be apart from one another.” Grant began, wrapping a muscular arm around Skye’s waist and drawing her close. “You seem to be very protective of me. And I got sick soon after you stopped coming for a while. I think something’s happened between us. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”

“Not a bad thing? What do you mean?” Skye was surprised that Grant had picked up on whatever was happening between them. She guessed that he hadn’t had the problems she had with feeling his panic attacks since she hadn’t been the one in danger. He had yet to experience that.

“It’s just that,” he paused for a bit, trying to think. “I don’t know. I get this hunch that this is far from a bad thing. And how could it be a bad thing? We make each other happy. How is liking each other a bad thing?” He knew that it went way deeper than that, but he didn’t want to freak out Skye by saying anything about it.

She bit her lip, “Well, I… I guess you’re right. I don’t know what any of this is, but it doesn’t seem to be a bad thing.” she stated softly as Grant buried his head in the crook of her neck. That seemed to be his favorite thing to do.

“So does this mean you won’t leave me, Skye?” he asked, his warmth breath against her skin and the unnatural heat of his body seeping into her. “You’re the only one that cares for me, I don’t want to lose you.”

Skye truly didn’t know how to respond to this since this whole ‘connection’ thing was coming on so fast. But she knew that she would never be able to leave his side again. This connection, this ‘link’, had them practically permanently tied to one another. They would never be able to each other behind. This relationship, if that was what it was now, wouldn’t be able to be broken. It would only be able to grow and nothing less.

“Don’t worry, Grant.” she breathed, wrapping her arms around him and burying her head in his broad shoulder. “I won’t leave you. I’m here to stay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the relationship and the link grows! Everyone just now needs to figure out what is causing this link and what it really entails. There's a deeper meaning behind said link, Skye and Grant are meant for something greater. Oh, and I may not be able to update tomorrow. I have the AP Gov test Tuesday morning and will probably go to sleep early, so there may not be an update to anything. Keep the comments and kudos coming! (6 maybe?)


	9. We Can't Believe Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coulson has a few words for Skye.

Both Skye and Grant got out of the infirmary the next day, and they wouldn’t leave each other’s side. Grant always had some kind of contact with Skye’s arm. Most of the team figured that it was some kind of anchor for him since Skye seemed to be the only one that he actually liked. None of them knew the real truth behind Grant’s yearning for physical contact. They didn’t know of the spark between them that sent some kind of pleasure roaring through their veins.

Now, their bond was becoming more and more evident to the rest of the team. And no one really wanted to try to split them apart, mainly because no one knew what would happen if they actually tried to do so. Lincoln seemed like the one most likely to try and do something, but Coulson had forbade him from even trying one little thing against them.

And this was when Coulson really began to notice how different Grant was now. He was now absentminded and tended to miss little things, far from the great superspy that he had once been. This could be attributed to his amnesia and brain damage, that everything really had damaged him to the point of no return. Grant also was now an extremely nervous and jumpy man. Every little thing scared him and he always seemed to be tense.

Hell, it was good that he was now always by Skye’s side since she was like his anchor in a few ways, and he was also her anchor as well. No one really knew the extent of their symbiotic relationship or the true cause behind it. Simmons blamed their Inhuman genetics while Lincoln, despite how much he despised whatever the hell was going on between them, believed that there was something much bigger at play here. Jiayang always believed weird prophecies and stories about the Inhumans, so some of that had rubbed off onto him.

And it was that next day that Coulson confronted Skye about Lincoln’s suspicions, that she should look in her mother’s texts about whatever was going on.

Skye raised an eyebrow at Coulson, “So you’re saying that Lincoln believes that something big is happening to us?” she asked, ignoring the fact that Grant was leaned up against her fast asleep. “Do you really expect me to believe anything that Lincoln says after what he tried to do to Grant?”

Coulson sighed, “No, I don’t. It’s just that maybe he’s right about your mother’s texts saying something about this. It doesn’t hurt to look. I know that you really do want to figure out what is going on between you and Grant.” Coulson paused momentarily, his eyes resting on Grant’s peaceful, sleeping form, “Skye, I don’t know what any of this is, I really don’t. It’s all really strange. We suddenly get him back after a year of believing him dead, and he’s got amnesia of all things. And he’s powered. Sometimes I do believe that he truly did die after Hive. Something brought him back, Skye. And maybe Lincoln is right about it being something big, that Ward’s resurrection, if that’s what it was, and this connection between the two of you is actually caused by something much bigger.”

He shook his head and watched as Grant buried himself deeper into Skye’s side, “Maybe the two are you are meant for something much greater. Maybe that is the reason to why Ward was brought back an entire year after his death.”

Skye frowned, “I don’t understand what you mean.” she said, keeping her eyes on Grant. She reached over and brushed his hair off of his forehead.

“Skye, you saw his body practically disintegrate after Hive was killed. Hive took him with him.” Coulson continued, crossing his arms. “Don’t you think it’s weird that he comes back a year later with no memory of who he is and powers he doesn’t understand? Something big is at play here, I want you to figure it out. Hopefully it’s something good, but I don’t understand any Inhuman lore. So you’re the best to try and figure things out.” he explained. “There’s a reason to why Ward came back, and it involves you.”

Skye’s stomach fell, now really not wanting to take her eyes off of Grant. She took his hand and threaded his fingers with her own. She didn’t say anything in response to Coulson’s statement.

“And whatever it is has more than likely created this connection between the two of you. I believe that the two of you are mean for something much greater.” Coulson continued, taking Skye’s silence as an answer. “And that’s why Ward came back, he wasn’t done yet.”

And Skye swore that time froze around her with Coulson’s proclamation. Her eyes dropped to the floor, away from Grant and away from Coulson. She really wasn’t sure if Coulson’s words actually held any meaning or not. She and Grant were meant for something much greater? That actually kind of disturbed her, especially when she had no clue to what that something could actually be.

“Fine,” she muttered in a low voice. “I’ll look through Jiayang’s texts. I’ll wait until Grant’s up though, I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave him right now. Especially since what happened yesterday.”

Coulson nodded, “That’s fine. Take your time. Hell, take all the time you need. Just make sure that you can actually figure out just what the hell is going on here.” he stated. “I don’t understand any of this, so I hope that you can.”

Skye watched as Coulson walked off, leaving the common room. Her gaze returned to Grant, the only other person in the room. The others tended to avoid her and Grant now, mainly because of Grant. She didn’t blame their still-existent hatred of him, they had their reasons that actually made sense. But she couldn’t bring herself to even doubt him. Whatever this connection was had erased all of her hate for the man. And Grant had no memory of anything that had happened between the team, so his only reasoning for his mistrust of them was because he didn’t remember any of them.

She continued to watch Grant’s calm and sleeping form as thoughts raced through her head. It was hard to process the fact that she and Grant were possibly meant for something much greater. And she didn’t even want to begin to try to figure out just what that could be. She was actually afraid to find the meaning behind this all.

Several minutes passed before Grant began to stir and Skye saw his whiskey-brown eyes crack open. A smile formed on his face as he realized that Skye was still beside him. He groaned as he pulled himself up and scooted closer to Skye, “How long was I asleep?” he asked, sleep lacing his voice.

Skye wrapped her arms around him, “About thirty minutes, not that long.” she whispered. She shivered as Grant’s face came really close to her and his eyes were staring straight into hers.

“Did I miss anything? I don’t see anyone else, so I guess that it wasn’t much if anything really did happen.”

“Not much. Coulson just wants me to look into a few things and then report back to him if I find anything.”

Grant buried his head into the crook of Skye’s neck once more, his growing beard tickling her skin, “What kind of things?”

Skye debated to whether or not she should she should tell him about what Coulson suspected about the two of them. She decided to keep it on the down low and tell him only after she had truly figured something out. “Just something about a few Inhumans that SHIELD brought in not too long ago. It’s not much.” she began to explain.

“You don’t have to leave, do you?” Grant asked, pulling back and looking at her, confusion on his face. “I don’t want you to leave.”

Skye knew after what happened the other day she wouldn’t physically be able to leave him without something happening to the both of them. “No, it’s here at the base. You can be with me as I do the work, Grant.” she stated. “I’m not going anywhere.”

He smiled, one of his overly-sappy smiles, and got closer to her again, “Good. I don’t want you to leave. I know that sounds really clingy and weird, but I just don’t want you to leave.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t want to leave you either.” she replied, knowing that she meant every word. It was weird to how fast things were moving. She shivered once more as a spark of electricity shot down her spine as Grant’s lips brushed the skin of her neck, but he showed no signs of doing anything more than that. “Especially after what happened the other day.”

Grant didn’t say anything else though, he was too busy enjoying the buzz and the comfort he got from Skye’s embrace and presence. He only tried to bury himself deeper into her body, as far as his massive form would allow him to.

She smiled and brought one of her hands to the top of his head, running her hand through his short hair the best she could. She wished it was longer, she had actually liked it when it had been somewhat spiky. His unnatural body heat seeped into her skin, providing an extra comfort for her. She really wanted to see all that he could actually do with his powers, but that was a mission for another time.

_“I just need to figure out what the hell’s wrong with us, Grant.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, I had a long week and really didn't feel like writing. And I kind of hit a slump with writing Hellfire Ward because it was actually confirmed that the asshole James is actually Hellfire. I refuse to believe it though, but Hellfire Ward will stay in fic at least. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	10. Heating Things Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye admits a few things to Ward.

(The Next Day)

 

Grant looked over Skye’s shoulder as she opened a massive and ancient book and laid it down onto the table in front of her. He wrinkled his nose as dust floated into the air from the somewhat-decaying pages. “Skye,” he began, cocking his head. “What’s all of this anyways?”

She craned her neck to look up at him, trying not to giggle at the confusion that had set into his normally-stoic features. “Some of my mother’s old texts. She ran an Inhuman, well, city for a very long time. It’s mainly Inhuman lore and prophecies. All that jazz.” she explained. “It’s all really confusing to look at, Grant. You don’t have to look with me if you don’t want to.” She pointed over to the couch and TV in the common room, “You can go play a game on Mack’s Xbox, I’m sure he won’t mind.”

In reality, she really didn’t want him to figure anything out yet about the two of them, she wanted to be the one that did that. Grant was too much in a bad condition for him to be doing any of that. 

“Maybe I want to look with you too.” Grant replied in a quiet voice, his hand resting onto Skye’s shoulder. “What, what are you looking for anyways?”

Skye looked into Grant’s deep, brown eyes. She didn’t want to have to lie to him, but she had to in this case. “It’s something that Coulson wanted me to check into due to all of the Inhumans we’ve been taking in lately. It’s really all not that much.”

“Not that much?” Grant walked in front of the table and gestured to the pile of books with his hands, “You’ve got to be pulling my leg if you really want me to believe that it’s not that much. It looks like you’re studying for some kind of exam or something.” A broad smile formed on his face, “So, what’s the real deal with all of this stuff, Skye?”

With a shake of her head, Skye scoffed at Grant’s beaming smile. She hated when he did that, only because she couldn’t resist the way that his toothy smile lit up the room. “Grant, like I said earlier as well, you wouldn’t understand any of this crap.” she protested, still not wanting to tell him the real reason to why she was looking in the books. 

“Maybe if you explained them to me.” Grant stated, pulling a chair up the the table and sitting down. He set his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, a bright light shining in his eyes. “I kind of want to know what all of this stuff entails. Most since it involves what we are.”

“Grant,” Skye began, shaking her head. 

“Skye, I at least want to know  _ what  _ I am.” Grant cut in, his tone cold and hard. The tone of his voice was extremely strange for him now, mainly since he was normally either sappy or snarky most of the time. “I…” he trailed off and shook his head. “I don’t even know who I am, Skye. I have no earthly idea anymore. The only thing I have left that I can call my own is my name, and it’s just my first name. I don’t know where I’m from or how old I am. I don’t know if I have siblings or not. I at least want to know what I am. You haven’t told me much about the Inhumans, maybe this’ll tell me more.”

Skye took a sharp breath, taking in the pleading look in Grant’s whiskey-brown eyes. To be honest, he looked absolutely miserable. He had ever since they had gotten him here about two weeks ago. She figured that was due to the fact he was extremely depressed and sick, mainly because he had no idea to who he was and was always trying to figure something out. 

With a nod, she closed the book in front of her and leaned back in the chair, “Grant, you want to know why I’m really looking in these books?” she asked softly. 

He nodded in response but didn’t say a single word to her. His pleading gaze stayed locked onto her.

“I’m not lying about Coulson wanting me to look into this, not one bit.” Skye began, reaching over the table and taking Grant’s calloused hand. She ignored the buzz that sparked between them. “You know that something has been going on between the two of us, right?”

Grant nodded once more.

“When we passed out, Agent Simmons found that all of our vitals were in sync. The reason to why we passed out was because we had been separated for a little too long, I think. It’s like we need each other to survive. Simmons concluded it as some kind of symbiotic relationship that she can’t explained. We’re connected in about every single way you can think of. Mentally, physically, and empathically. When you have panic attacks, I can feel them too.” Skye explained.

Grant blinked and cocked his head once again, “I don’t understand. Something like this is possible?”

“I don’t know. Lincoln didn’t know anything about something like this, and he knows a lot about the Inhumans. They thought that these texts could provide an answer to whatever it is that is going on here. And maybe even an answer to how you showed up like the way you did; in the middle of nowhere and with no memory.” she continued. “Lincoln, no matter how much of a fool he is, believes that there is some kind of bigger power at play here. Something else driving us together. Like there’s a reason to all of this. We’re meant for something much greater.”

Grant took his fingers and lightly traced the skin of Skye’s palm, “Something greater?” he echoed. “I don’t think I want to find that out. That… That sounds like some kind of prophecy. I really don’t know. Well, if it’s about the two of us being together like this, then it shouldn’t be all that bad, right?”

Confusion had set itself back onto his face once more. Grant leaned back in his chair and ran his hand over his thickening beard. Weariness shown in his eyes, probably because he had been training his powers all morning before this. He leaned forward once more and picked up one of the old books.

“Grant,” Skye warned once more. “I think you might accidently set one of those on fire.”

His eyes widened and he quickly placed the book back down, “Oh, sorry.” he muttered, wiping the dust off of his hand. “I… I just wanted to help, you know.”

“I know you do, but just let me do this, alright?” Skye asked softly, looking him straight into the eyes. “Besides you look tired.” She pointed over to the couch near her, “Take a nap, I’m not leaving this table anytime soon. Get some sleep.”

Grant nodded and smiled, pushing the chair back and rising to his full height. He walked back around the table to her as she stood up as well. Lacing his arm around her torso, he drew her close, “Fine.” he stated softly. “Just be here when I wake up, okay?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll probably be in here for several hours, Grant.”

He smiled once more and leaned down, surprising Skye by connecting his lips with hers. Now, she didn’t protest one bit and fell in line with it, Grant’s hand threading through her hair in the process. He hadn't initiated any kind of contact like this yet, the closest being his lips on her neck. But she wasn't complaining though, it was like the euphoric buzz had been multiplied by ten and the electricity was coursing all throughout her body. Same went for Grant.

He pulled away, a smile meeting her gaze. He looked so happy, so content. But he didn't say anything to her.

“Wow.” she breathed. “That was…. That was amazing.”

Grant only grew flustered and his freckled cheeks reddened. He backed away slightly from Skye. He looked down to his feet and avoided her gaze 

“Grant,” Skye began. “There's nothing to be ashamed about there, sweetheart.” She approached him and took his hand again. “I'm just wondering that initiated that.”

Grant looked up and met her eyes, “It's just that I…. I do love you, Skye. I'm not afraid to admit that. It's just a little weird to say and show that because of whatever it is that is going on between us.” he admitted. “I…” he trailed off and remained silent.

“Grant, I…. Oh for God's sakes, I do love you too.” Skye shot back, bringing him even closer. “And I want the best for you. So being ashamed of loving me isn't something you need to do, okay?”

Grant nodded and buried his head into her hair, “Okay.”

Skye took a breath and buried her face into his firm chest, not believing what she just had said. Yes, she  _ did  _ love him, but it was so hard to explain. But she knew that she did love him and he loved her back.

“And don't worry, Grant. I'll find out what is going on between us. I'll find out just what we're meant for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, haven't had much motivation since that finale. And this will now be the only fic I'll update, the others will be ended for personal reasons. I am thinking of a complete AU though where Ward is a form of Ghost Rider. Keep the comments and kudos coming.


	11. And We Can be Immortals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye finds out the truth about her and Grant.

(Two Hours Later)

 

Skye sighed and leaned back in her chair after closing about the fourth book she had gone through. Her efforts so far had been in vain because she had found absolutely nothing that could be related to her and Grant. Well, one thing did stand out though, but it wasn’t very detailed. 

It was something about two chosen Inhumans to lead generations to come. This had perked her interest, but that was about all the text had said. It didn’t describe the Inhumans, just said that they were chosen to lead. Lead what exactly? Skye figured that maybe they would lead the Inhumans in Afterlife, that did feel right. And Skye did have this nagging thought that these two Inhumans were definitely her and Grant. But could they really lead an entire civilization of Inhumans? Well, her mother did so, but that was Jiayang. Skye was just Skye and Grant was a traumatized and amnesiac Inhuman that had little to no clue about the world anymore. Could they really lead? 

As Skye looked over to Grant’s sleeping form on the couch, she knew that she had to dig further deeper into this. She had to know if they were really the two Inhumans destined to lead generations to come. Wait, generations? That didn’t sound right. Generations implied hundreds of years, like how long her mother had lived. Was it actually possible that she and Grant were now practically immortal? God, she hoped not. She really didn’t want to live forever, outliving everyone else. Even if she was with Grant for the rest of her life. 

She sighed and thumbed through the next book, hearing soft snores rumble from deep within Grant’s chest. God, it seemed as though he slept almost all the time. His medicine was to blame though. Even though it made his mental state much better, it seemed to take a toll on his physical health. Grant was always tired or sick-feeling, so when he wasn’t in the gym he was sleeping somewhere.

Returning her gaze back to the book laid out in front of her, Skye’s eyes landed on a group of text at the bottom of the page and her heart almost stopped. It was a jumble of prophetic words and crap, but Skye managed to discern her own explanation from it:  _ “There are two Inhumans destined to be together at any costs. If one dies before they meet the other, then they are brought back in order to fulfill their destiny. These Inhumans will be the strongest among legends and will lead the generations to come until the end of time.”. _

Her hands had grown clammy by this point. This had to be it, this had to be about them. Grant had died and had come back in order to fulfill the connection with her. It didn’t mention anything about amnesia, but Skye figured that was just because of Hive at this point. They were destined to be together, destined to lead the Inhumans until the end of time. Immortal, they were immortal. 

The book grew blurry to her and she quickly stood up from her chair, so fast that it fell over backwards to the floor with a massive crash. Grant darted up, being disturbed in his sleep. His eyes rested on Skye, whom of which seemed to be having some kind of freak out. Grant could feel his chest tightening as he approached her. Was this the empathetic link she had been talking about? He knew that he wasn’t having an attack, Skye was. And he could feel it all. 

He quickly took her into his arms and drew her close. Luckily, she wasn't having an actual panic attack and was only merely freaking out. Grant got her over the the couch and got her to sit down. “Skye, what's wrong?” he asked softly, threading his fingers through her hair. “Did you find something? I take it that you did.”

Skye stiffly nodded and buried herself into Grant's chest. She pointed over to the books, “I, uh… Just take a look for yourself.” she stated, not caring that Grant would find out everything she just had read. He needed to know if it was truly this big.

Grant frowned and left her on the couch, heading over to the book that she had left open. He couldn’t make heads or tails of the text, but luckily Skye had written her own notes about it. He read:  _ “There are two Inhumans destined to be together at any costs. If one dies before they meet the other, then they are brought back in order to fulfill their destiny. These Inhumans will be the strongest among legends and will lead the generations to come until the end of time.” _

He frowned even more and looked back to Skye, “You really think that this is us?” he asked, crossing his muscular arms over his chest. “I don’t like the sounds of any of this.”

Skye shrugged, sitting up, “Grant, I really don’t know. I can’t make any sense of it at all.”

“And what’s this about one being brought back to life?” Grant questioned, feeling sick to his stomach. He paused and thought for a moment. “Do you think that’s me? Do you think I died and me waking up with no memory was me coming back to life?”

“I… I don’t know, Grant. I really don’t.” In all honesty, she knew that Grant was that particular Inhuman, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. She wasn’t going to tell him that he had died by another Inhuman and came back to life a year later. She was just going to go with what he was believing. “But maybe it’s possible. You coming here was what sparked the link.”

Grant frowned and scratched as his beard, “And what’s this about ‘leading the generations until the end of time’?” he asked, still questioning everything about the text. “What generations?”

“I think it’s any Inhuman that lives on this planet.” She looked Grant firmly into the eyes, “I think we’re meant to lead the Inhumans together.”

“What? No, I-I can’t do that.” Grant stammered, shaking his head and backing up. “I’m a complete mess, I can’t even take care of myself, let alone an entire civilization.” He ran his hands over his hair, “I can’t do that!”

Skye stood to her feet, “Look, I don’t even know if I’m right about this, but that is what it seems like it is.” she stated calmly, slowly approaching the panicking Inhuman. “We just need to give this some time before we can really figure things out, okay? Maybe this won’t happen for years to come and we don’t have to worry about it.”

“What does ‘until the end of time’ mean, Skye?” Grant asked, looking straight at her. He wasn’t backing down. 

Skye swallowed the lump that had long formed in her throat. She wasn’t even sure about that herself. She thought that it meant that they were immortal somehow, that only the end of the world would kill them. She didn’t want to live forever, even if it was by Grant’s side. If it meant watching everyone else around her die as she remained young… Well, she couldn’t take that thought.

“Skye?” Grant questioned, cocking his head at Skye’s silence. “You didn’t answer my question. What does that mean?”

She looked him straight into the eyes, “Grant,” she began. “I think that means we’re immortal.”

“What?”

“We’re immortal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is a little bit shorter tonight, but I'm not feeling all that well. But I hope that you liked it! Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	12. You Won't Do This on Your Own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More things come to light.

Skye’s proclamation took Grant slightly aback. He blinked, his jaw slightly agape, “Immortal?” he asked, his voice a mere squeak. “As in we never die and live practically forever?” With a shake of his head, Grant scoffed, “That sounds completely ridiculous, Skye.”

“Grant, what else could ‘until the end of time’ mean?” Skye questioned, crossing her arms over her chest. “Until the end of the day?”

Grant pointed at the books, “What if you’ve got this all wrong and we’re not the subjects of this damned prophecy?” he asked, exasperated. “Maybe you’re just completely worrying yourself over absolutely nothing. Maybe we’re not meant to lead the ‘generations to come’ and we get to die when we grow old. Not whenever the Earth finally decides to implode on itself.” He sighed and ran his hands through his growing hair, “Skye, look, I’m not saying that you’re stupid for believing this, it’s a legitimate concern. But I don’t think that you need to worry yourself sick over this. If it happens, it happens. But whatever comes from this, at least it seems like we’ll be together, right?”

Skye took a breath and remained silent, only looking at Grant’s pleading eyes. After a while, she finally spoke back. “Look, I’m saying that it wouldn’t be the strangest thing to happen. My mother herself lived for centuries, I believe. So for the two of us to be immortal isn’t too far of a stretch. You can shoot fire out of your hands of God’s sakes, Grant. Being immortal isn’t too insane of an idea. It’s just a weird concept to grasp if it’s really going to happen to us, right?”

Grant nodded slowly and approached Skye again, taking his arm and looping it around her torso, “Like I said, if it happens it happens. It really doesn’t look like something that we can stop on bit. We’ll just have to learn to live with it if it does, Skye. I mean if it means the two of us will be together forever, just how bad could it be?”

“Uh, I don’t know? Watching every friend we make die and there’s nothing that we can do about it?” Skye’s voice had a hint of grief within it. “I do love you, Grant, but I don’t want to stand by and watch our friends die as we don’t even age a single freaking day. Immortality isn’t a gift, it’s a curse.” She buried her head into Grant’s firm chest, letting the unnatural heat seeping from his body soothe her worries. “I don’t want to be one of the oldest people in the world, Grant. I’d like to live a normal life.”

Grant sighed and leaned down, kissing the top of her head, “That’s what I think too, Skye. But I don’t think that this is anything that we can stop now. Just let the days go on and see what happens. If we don’t age, we don’t age. We can’t stop it. The only thing that we can do is try to make the best of it.”

Skye looked up at him, “That’s some mighty inspirational words for someone like you.” she stated, burying deeper into his chest. “At least it sounds like you’re getting better.”

He shrugged, “I’m like this time to time, doesn’t help that I’m broken inside.” He sighed once more and shook his head, “Skye, just leave those books alone and try to focus onto something else. Those books are only going to make things worse for you. Put them away, tell Coulson whatever you want to, and ignore the books. Look, I’ll make you dinner, how does that sound?”

Skye didn’t respond.

Grant took Skye’s face in his gentle hands and tilted her head up to look him in the eyes, “Skye, please, just put the books away.” he said softly, worry showing in his eyes. “I don’t want you to worry yourself sick over this, alright? Again, I’ll make you dinner.”

With a sigh, Skye nodded, “Yeah, sure. I guess you’re right, Grant. There’s nothing that I can do about this. It will either happen or it won’t. I can’t change anything. And yes, I would like dinner.”

Grant smiled, “There, that’s the ticket.” He turned and threaded his fingers with Skye’s, leading her out of the room and away from the books, “I know how to make you feel better.”

* * *

 

  
  


(A Couple of Hours Later)

 

Skye watched as Grant came out of the small bathroom that was attached to their room. She marvelled at the fact that he was shirtless, despite the fact that they had slept in the same bed for the past couple of nights and he always slept with no shirt on. But she couldn't get over the sight of his wondrously chiseled frame. He stood at the edge of the bed and looked at her.

“Have you told Coulson yet about what you found?” he asked, crossing his arms. “Or are you even going to?”

She shrugged and leaned her head against the headboard of the bed. To be honest, she really didn’t want to tell Coulson what she had found. “You want the truth?” she questioned, keeping her eyes off of the Inhuman.

“Well, yeah.”

“I really don’t want to tell him. I feel like this is something that needs to stay between the two of us for as long as possible.” she explained, looking back at him. “I just feel like coming out and announcing that I think the both of us are immortal would just be a strange thing to do.”

“If it’s true, Skye, it’ll be strange for them to age and not see us do the same.” Grant stated, walking towards his side of the bed. “You’ll have to tell them eventually.”

“Can this just be our little secret for a while? I mean, they already probably think that our relationship is weird. We’re connected in about every single way. They think it’s unnatural for God’s sakes.” Skye explained further, watching Grant slip into the bed. 

Grant shrugged, turning to look at her, “I guess it can be. But you’ll have to say something about it sooner or later.” he trailed off and looked to his hands. “But do you really care to what they say? I know that they look at me like I’m some kind of monster and I don’t understand that one bit, but I don’t care. Look, I’ll never hurt you if that’s what they’re thinking. Can… Can I even hurt you?”

Skye blinked, taken aback by Grant’s question. To be honest, she never really had thought about it before. If they were connected, could they actually hurt each other? “Well, I… I don’t know about that, Grant.” she replied.

He held out his hand towards her, igniting a fireball within his palm, “Do you really think that this could hurt you? If we’re meant to be together, I don’t see how it could be possible to hurt one another.” he explained. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I want to make sure that it’s not possible.”

Staring at the fireball, Skye wasn’t sure of what to do. Grant was actually wanting her to touch it. She’s seen his powers at work, they’re highly destructive. But it seemed as though that he fully trusted himself, which was rare.

“Wait, you want me to  _ touch  _ that?” she asked, eyeing the fireball warily. 

“Not if you don’t want to. I just wanted to prove a point to myself. I just want to be sure that I can’t hurt you whatsoever. You know that I rage, that I get out of control. I don’t want you getting caught in the crossfire.” Grant explained. He looked to the waiving fireball within his palm. “I don’t want to hurt the one thing that I care about.”

Skye bit her lip, having a feeling that they couldn’t hurt each other whatsoever. She tentatively reached out her hand towards the flame, feeling warmth from it. But as she got closer, it didn’t grow hotter. It only stayed warm. Her fingers ghosted the top of the flame, and it didn’t burn her. She looked up to Grant, who was looking at the sight in amazement, “It’s not burning me.” she muttered. 

Grant pulled his hand back, extinguishing the flame. He nodded and smiled at her, “That’s… That’s good to know. It’s good to know that I can’t hurt you. And I guess that it’s the same the other way around.”

Skye smiled back at him, loving the pleased look on his face, “I’m pretty sure that it is, Grant. Now, let’s just go to sleep, okay? We’ll deal with things in the morning.”

Grant nodded and settled down into the sheets as Skye reached over and flipped the bedside lamp off. She immediately went to his side, laying her head on his bare chest. Her fingers traced a pattern down his stomach, Grant shivering at the sensation of both Skye’s touch and the buzz that reignited between them. He bent his head down to brush his lips against her forehead. 

“I love you, Skye.” he muttered. “I will never leave you or hurt you. You have my word.”

Skye moaned softly as she buried herself deeper into his side, taking in his unnatural warmth. And for the first time in what seemed like forever, she knew that she could fully trust what he was saying. This wasn’t Grant Ward the traitor, this was just Grant. And he had a new story to make for himself.

“I love you too, Grant.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slight wait, but never had a chance to write. But now it's confirmed that they cannot hurt each other and the both of them are very unsure of the 'prophecy' or whatnot. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	13. Friends and More Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye finds Grant doing something she'd never expected.

(The Next Day)

 

When Skye woke up the next morning to find the bed void of Grant. She froze up, finding this completely and utterly strange. Grant was always by her side, so where did he go? She had a feeling deep within her chest that it wasn’t far, so maybe he had just gone to the kitchen or something. He did like to cook sometimes, maybe he was cooking them breakfast.

With a sign, Skye peeled herself out of the bed and stood to her feet, ignoring how the cold concrete pressed up against her skin. She padded over to the door and swung it open, wincing as it produced a loud screech. That needed to be fixed sometime. She walked down the hallway, soon noticing a sweet odor that drifted from what seemed to be the kitchen. Yep, Grant was more than likely cooking. He was about the only person she trusted, other than herself, to cook her food.

She walked towards the kitchen, pausing just right outside the door as she heard voices inside. Well, she did hear Grant, that was always the first voice that she picked up on no matter what. The second voice almost sounded like  _ Fitz.  _ Was Grant actually talking to the young engineer? More importantly, Fitz was actually talking to Grant?

Fitz hadn’t shown much friendliness towards Grant ever since everyone found out about him a few weeks ago. Skye completely understood his distrust of Grant, he had been pretty much injured by the man. Was it actually possible that Fitz had worked up the courage to speak to him? Maybe he finally figured out that this was no longer Grant Ward and this was just Grant, the man with no memory to what he had done? She actually did hope so, Grant did need a friend other than her. Everyone else was still hostile towards him. 

She took a sharp breath and walked into the room, seeing Grant standing at the counter with a spatula in his hand. His eyes lit up when he saw Skye walk in. Fitz tensed up and looked back to see her, just a smile on his face. He didn’t say anything. Skye walked over to Grant as he placed the spatula down onto the counter. Grant immediately looped his massive arms around her torso and drew her close, burying his face in her hair.

Fitz narrowed his eyes at the sight, he was still uncomfortable with the fact that the two Inhumans were connected and madly in love. It was a strange sight to see and their constant PDA made it uncomfortable for anyone to be in the room with them. They were constantly all over each other. It didn’t matter if Grant just had a hand placed gently on her or if they were making out, it was all the same to anyone else in the room.

The young engineer adverted his gaze and coughed lightly to get their attention, “So, Skye,” he began quietly. “How are you?”

Skye lightly pulled away from Grant, but still had her fingers intertwined with his. She looked to the agent, who clearly seemed to be uncomfortable with the current situation. “I’m good, Fitz.” Her eyes shifted between him and Grant, “So, what were you two doing?” she asked.

Fitz shrugged, “He was already in here making breakfast when I came in here to get some cereal for me and Simmons.” he started to explain. “He started up a conversation and we just kind of got into it.”

Grant turned back to the food that he was making, which actually turned out to be pancakes. Again, something that he still found himself liking, despite no memory of ever doing so. He shrugged, “I just wanted to get to know him, that’s all.” he commented. Skye and Fitz exchanged wary glances with one another as he said it. “I didn’t mean to hold anyone up.”

“Well, you’re fine. I imagine that Simmons has already gotten herself caught up in something by now.” Fitz stated with a dismissive wave of his hand. “She’s got a stash of food in the lab, so she’s probably gotten something out of that.”

With another shrug, Grant flipped the pancake in the pan over, “Alright.” he muttered. He continued to stare at the flame underneath the eye of the stove. He narrowed his eyes and willed it to flicker, and it did. A small smile moved onto his face, he was glad that he already had so much control over his powers. He not only could control and produce his own flames, he could control other fires. 

Skye noticed him staring at the stove with a strange concentration. She placed her hand on his arm to get his attention, “Grant, babe, are you okay?” she asked quietly.

He jerked up and looked at her, “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m fine.” he tried to convince her. There was really no problem whatsoever, he just didn’t want her to know that he was messing with his powers like that. “Just thinking, that’s all.”

She raised an eyebrow, she knew that he was completely lying but she decided not to say anything about it, “Alright then.” She looked to the pancakes, “Are those ready yet?”   
He followed her line of sight and nodded, “Well, they should be.” he commented. “So grab what you want.” He looked to Fitz, “You can get some if you want to, Fitz.”

Fitz shook his head and tried to decline the offer, “Oh, no, I don’t want to interrupt anything.” he said quietly. “I’m good.”

Grant picked up the plate of pancakes and sat it down right in front of the engineer. There was a massive amount of them on the plate. “Come on, Fitz. You’re not interrupting anything. And besides, just me and Skye can’t eat all of this by ourselves.” he explained, trying to persuade him. “You’re not hurting anything by having one or two of these. I don’t mind at all. And besides, you were in here before Skye, so this really doesn’t matter.  And I’m sure that Skye wouldn’t mind either.” He looked towards Skye, “Right, Skye?” he asked.

Skye shrugged and shook her head, “Yep. Fitz, really, we don’t care if you stay and eat with us.” she further stated. “You’re fine.”

Fitz took a breath and eventually did nod, “Well, I’ll guess that I’ll stay for just a while, then I’ve got to get back to Simmons.” he replied meekly, watching as Grant smiled as placed a few pancakes out in front of him. He wasn’t used to Grant Ward of all people being so damn friendly, but then again this truly wasn’t Grant Ward. This was just Grant.

And Skye was just glad that it seemed as though Grant was rekindling relationships, even though they were ones that he truly didn’t remember one bit. She just wanted him to heal and to be happy. And it seemed as though he was getting just that.

Fitz nodded at Grant and smiled, “Thanks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's such a short chapter, but I'm not feeling all that great tonight. But I hope that you enjoyed! Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	14. We're In This Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye and Grant are sent on their first mission together in over two years.

(Several Days Later)

 

Coulson watched with unwavering eyes as Skye and Grant came into his office. He had only asked for Skye, but he knew that he couldn’t get her without getting Grant as well. The two were now completely inseparable. They were always either all over each other or Grant had an arm around Skye. There wasn’t a moment when they weren’t touching in some way.

In a few ways, it irritated Coulson. He figured that now he couldn’t get Skye to go do anything for him because now Grant had to come with her too. But he also had to remind himself that this wasn’t Grant Ward, this was just Grant and this relationship seemed to be doing no harm. But today, Coulson needed to send Skye off for a quick mission to check on a report of a few spotted Inhumans that needed to be brought into SHIELD. And there was no way to separate her from Grant at this point. 

The Director nodded as the two Inhumans came in and sat down in the chairs in front of his desk. He nodded towards Skye, “Skye.” he stated simply. “Bet you’re wondering to why I wanted you here.”

Skye casted a quick glance towards Grant before looking back to Coulson, “Well, I don’t think it’s about Grant. So it’s probably more Inhumans, right?” she questioned. 

“Damn, you’re still good, Skye.” Coulson commented, sliding into his own chair. “You’re right. There was a report of a group of Inhumans just yesterday outside of a small town in Virginia. They need to be brought in, mainly because we don’t know to whether or not they’re newborns or they’ve been this way for a while.”

“So you want me to go in and check it out, right?”   
Coulson nodded, “Exactly. I know relations are kind of strained with your team right now since Lincoln’s out of the question and Joey doesn’t really like to go out into the field. Your only choice is to take Elena with you.” he began to explain. “I,”

“Why can’t Grant go with me?” Skye interrupted him, reaching out for Grant’s hand. “I mean, it’s not a good idea to separate us, you know that, Coulson.”

“Skye, you know that Grant’s not an actual agent.” Coulson stated, casting a glance towards Grant, who just looked flat-out confused. “It’s risky to bring him into the field when he’s only been with us for a couple of months now.” Of course he was skirting around the point that he just didn’t want Grant out in the field just because he was Grant. But Grant didn’t need to know that.

“Look, then this can be his first chance.” Skye argued. “I think we’ll be good together and he might have a chance to really show his powers off in the field if some of the Inhumans end up trying to attack. Let this be his first chance to prove that he’s a worthy agent.” Skye was just about to add ‘again’ at the end of that. But to Grant, he wasn’t trying to prove anything again, this was all new and his first time for him. He didn’t remember ever being a specialist for SHIELD.

Coulson blinked, studying Grant’s facial expressions. The Inhuman kept his eyes away from him and locked onto Skye. Even though he didn’t remember what Coulson had done to him, Grant still didn’t like Coulson and was actually afraid of him. Perhaps Skye was right, maybe this would be a good opportunity for him to test his powers out in the field. And it wasn’t like this was a major mission or anything, so there wasn’t much to really screw up. But he still didn’t fully trust Grant and his powers. He didn’t want the Inhuman to freak out and end up killing someone. But Grant seemed to be calm whenever Skye was around, so there was a slim chance of him actually freaking out.

With a sigh, Coulson nodded slowly, “Fine. You’re right, it’s a good chance for him to get field experience. And I know that you don’t want to work with anyone but Grant.” he explained. He looked over to Grant, “But, Grant, do you feel like you’re ready?” he asked. “It’s not like this is a big mission or anything, but I don’t want you to feel unprepared. All you have to do is go in and check about these Inhumans. Then you may possibly have to bring them in. There may be some fighting, I don’t know.”

Grant kept his eyes on Skye, even though it was Coulson that was talking to him. He didn’t care about fighting, but he didn’t want to leave Skye’s side. So it did sound like he probably needed to go. And they were all about him training his powers, so he probably should do that as well. He shrugged, “I guess. I’ve been training them for the past few weeks, but haven’t had a chance to use them outside of the gym.” he replied softly. “Just as long as Skye’s there.”

Skye smiled slightly at him, “Grant, don’t worry, I’m not leaving your side. Hopefully, we can just convince these guys to come nicely.” She turned to look at Coulson, “How many are there?” she asked.

Coulson sighed and shuffled through the papers on his desk, “Reports say about three of them, so that shouldn’t be all that hard for you two to deal with. But it’s unknown to what their powers truly are, so be careful. There’s multiple conflicting reports about to what the powers are, so we couldn’t pinpoint one, exact thing for the each of them. But you’re both strong, so I do believe that you can do it.”

Skye nodded, “Sounds good.” she stated simply, giving Grant’s hand a slight squeeze. “I think we’ll be fine.”

“Good. You’ll have a pilot with you to take you there in a Quinjet.” Coulson began to explain. Well, Grant used to be able to pilot the Quinjets, but Coulson didn’t know if he actually remembered how to or not. So it was best to just send someone else in with them for that. “You go in, find the Inhumans, then apprehend them if you have to. Then call in for support in order to get them back to the base. It’s not all that complicated.” he finished. “Understand?”

“Yes, sir.” Skye stated, coming to her feet and pulling Grant up along with her. “When do we leave?”   
“Two hours. You do need to be in mission gear, so go get in yours and go find some that will fit Grant.” Coulson replied, standing up as well. “I think there should be a tac suit that fits him. And ICERs only, no guns.” he paused for a moment, “Well, Grant’s technically a firearm, so you do have a flamethrower.”   
Grant shot Skye an arrogant smirk and she rolled her eyes at him. 

“Go get ready.” Coulson continued, ignoring the silent banter between the Inhumans. “Make this mission a successful one.”

Skye nodded once more and pulled Grant out of the room without another word. The two of them walked until they were a good distance from Coulson’s office and Skye turned to face Grant, a smile on her face. 

“Can you believe this, Grant?” she asked. “Our first mission together.” Now, that wasn’t technically true. They had plenty of missions together before Hydra. Then there was that one to rescue Lincoln right before Grant had gone rouge with Kara. But to him, this was their first mission.

He shrugged, “I’m just surprised that Coulson’s letting me go on this. I guess I have you to thank for that. But he really should know that we really can’t be separated.” he stated, looping an arm around her and drawing her close. “But at least it’ll be the two of us. Well, then those Inhumans will be there as well. But still.” His lips brushed her cheek, Skye ignoring how his beard scratched at her skin. He was insistent on keeping a short and well-trimmed beard. His hair had grown out of the short crop and was now usually spiked up in the front. But she didn’t complain, she would always find him highly attractive. 

“I guess that’s all that matters.” Skye mumbled, quickly locking her lips with his. She soon pulled away and looked up at him, “Come on, let’s go get you suited up. Remember, I am technically the one in charge of you on this mission.”

Grant’s lips perked up into a teasing smile and he let her lead the way. He gave a mocking salute towards her back before following her down the hallway.

“Aye, aye captain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Coulson actually sends Grant along with Skye on a mission to retrieve a few Inhumans. This goes to show that he knows that they can't be separated now. And I don't know when the next time it'll be when I update this. I'm going out of town for most of the week and tomorrow I'm working on updating two other fics. So bear with the wait. Keep the comments and kudos coming! (Maybe five or so comments?)


	15. We're the Ultimate Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grant and Skye are on their way to the mission.

(A Couple of Hours Later)

Grant shifted uncomfortably in his seat in the back of the quinjet next to Skye. He was both nervous about the mission and the fact that his tac gear was just a little too tight for his muscular frame. He didn’t know why he was so nervous about the mission, he just was. Even though there was a familiar air about sitting in the back of the quinjet, all of this was unknown to him. Still, he was surprised by the fact that Coulson was actually allowing him on a mission so soon after his arrival.

It had been a little over two and a half months since Grant had been brought to the base after being found in that small town. He had been recovering remarkably well, all except for his memory. It just seemed that his memory just didn’t want to return, like it wasn’t meant to return. If this was truly a new life, like Skye and Coulson suspected, then Grant was supposed to make new memories in this life. He wasn’t supposed to remember all of the bad things that he had done. He was truly a blank slate.

And Skye still really wasn’t sure of what they both were meant for. Grant was brought back to her for a reason. All she could figure was that they were supposed to lead the Inhumans. And by the sounds of what she could find, that meant all of the Inhumans. Skye didn’t like the sounds of that, she really didn’t want her and Grant to be the equivalent of queen and king to the Inhumans. That just didn’t sound right to her. How could they lead such a powerful race? And where would they lead it?

These were the things that Skye tried not to think about unless she really had to. She really didn’t want to think about it until the time truly came. And when would that be? A few weeks? A few years? There truly was no telling to when they would be called to whatever it is that they were supposed to do.

Perhaps they would have to rebuild Afterlife, give the Inhumans a safe place to live while the two of them watched over everything that went on in the city. Maybe that’s what they were supposed to do. Live a long, long life, watching generation after generation pass in Afterlife. But Skye hoped that that didn’t come for a long time now. She still wanted to be with SHIELD.

But her heart was being slowly consumed by Grant and Grant only. It was getting to the point where she only cared to be around him. If they were meant to be together forever, then it made since that her heart was only made for him alone. And it was vice versa with him. Grant’s heart was only made for Skye alone.

And this was something that would last for centuries to come.

Meanwhile, Grant groaned to show his discomfort, mainly to get Skye’s attention without having to say anything at all. He liked to tease Skye with things, mainly because he did make her laugh a lot and he really loved to hear her laugh. When Skye didn’t look at him, he groaned again, but much louder this time.

Skye narrowed her eyes and turned her head to look at him, “Yes, Wookie, can I help you?” she asked mockingly. “Why all the groans?”

“When are we going to be there?” Grant complained, shifting in his seat. He pulled at the shirt of his tac gear, “This thing is uncomfortable and I wanna get out of it as soon as humanly possible.”

She suppressed a laugh. She remembered a time when he wore something similar to that tac suit almost every other day, but that was so long ago. Over two years ago, a time that Grant couldn’t remember at all. A time that he would probably never remember. Now, he just looked flat-out uncomfortable in the form-fitting suit.

“Relax, Grant, this shouldn’t take that long.” Skye reassured him, reaching over and running a hand down his highly muscular arm. “And besides, that shirt really shows off your muscles. I like it.”

Grant blushed and looked briefly off to the side, mumbling under his breath. A few quiet seconds passed before he looked back up and towards her, “What are we supposed to do if they try to fight us?” he asked. “I don’t know how I’ll do in actual combat.”

Skye shrugged, “Just let instincts take over and go with the flow.” she began to explain to him. “I’ve seen you with your powers in the gym, you’re wickedly powerful. So if they do happen to retaliate against us, you’ve really got the upper hand all by yourself.” She smiled at him, “But hopefully, they’ll just comply with what we say and we can get them back to the base without a problem at all.”

Grant rolled his eyes and gestured down to his gear, “And why do we have to go in looking like we’re about to go into war?” he asked. “Wouldn’t that scare them?”

Skye shrugged once more, “I don’t make those rules, Grant. I guess the gear is supposed to help us fight, I don’t know.” she retorted. “But the only thing that matters is that you look absolutely great in it, okay?”

“Well, you look great too.” Grant stated sheepishly. “Really fits your, uh, curves.”

Skye shot him a look, “Well, I knew that you would make a comment about them eventually. And I know that you’re a boob man.” she said with a flirty smirk. “You’re definitely a boob man.”

“Well, I…” Grant trailed off, looking down with a heavy blush on his face.

Her smile grew even bigger, “Come on, Grant, don’t deny it. I always catch you looking at my chest. When you’re not all clingy with me, you’re staring at my chest.”

Grant’s blush only grew even more, pretty much to the point where Skye was afraid that he was actually going to burst into flames. He scratched at the back of his head, looking down at the metal flooring of the jet. “Well, I… I… Uh, never mind.” he muttered. “Shouldn’t we almost be there?”

Skye blinked and turned to face the jet’s pilot, “Hey, Jackson, are we almost there?” she called.

“Oh, we’re about five minutes out, Agent Johnson.” the pilot replied back. “I suggest getting ready about right now.”

Skye nodded and turned back to Grant, “You heard the man, we should get ready.” she stated. “Just grab an ICER from over there on the rack and you should be good. Coulson said no actual guns. I don’t know why he said that when we’re both powered. I can crumble the ground out from underneath a person and you can roast them alive. So we really have no need for a gun at all.”

Grant let out a snort as he stood to his feet and walked over to the gun rack on the wall of the jet. He picked up one of the blue ICERs and looked at it carefully in his hands, “So, what does this weird gun do anyways? And what does ICER mean?”

“One, I don’t remember to why Fitz called it that. I really don’t, it’s been a while.” she began to explain, watching as Grant sheathed the ICER in the holster on his belt. “Two, it releases a substance called dendrotoxin that renders a target unconscious for a good while. But with Inhumans , a stronger dosage is needed to knock them out. So you have to fire several shots at them.” It felt strange for her to be explaining this to him. He had used the gun when it had been called the Night Night Gun, so he once knew what it did. But of course, he didn’t remember any of that.

He nodded and turned back to face her, “Okay, so knock them out if we have to. I really don’t like the idea of injuring them with my powers in order to get them out if we have to.”

“Yes, Grant. ICE them if you want to. It’ll be better for everything in the end actually.”

Grant didn’t say anything back to Skye as he felt the jet lurch as it touched down on solid ground. Skye smiled at him and walked towards him, taking his hand and threading her fingers with his.

“Looks like this mission is a go.” she said, standing on her toes to kiss his beard-covered chin. “Shall we go, Grant?”

He leaned down and connected his lips with her, “Well, I guess so.” he said after pulling away. “I do want to get out of this suit as fast as possible.” He took her hand again and began walking towards the now-open door of the jet and towards the outside.

“Well, I’ll see about getting that thing off when we get back, alright?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And sorry for the wait. I was out of town for a few days and finally just got around to updating this. But I hope that this was a good comeback chapter! Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	16. Hear Me Roar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mission goes quite smoothly.

Grant watched carefully from his perch from the rooftops above. He crouched on the ledge of a building, watching as Skye walked slowly through the alleyway right below him. He was supposed to watch for any of the Inhumans they were supposed to bring in and to make sure that they didn’t appear to be hostile. Grant found that his Inhuman biology allowed him to be a lot faster and more agile, so he had gotten on top of the building with ease. 

He was supposed to take out whomever he deemed a threat, even though that was only to be a last resort. Skye was the one to talk to the Inhumans and convince them to come with them back to the base. Grant’s eyes surveyed the ground below, watching for any kind of movement that wasn’t Skye. After a few minutes, he spotted three figures, all in varying places around the alleyways. And they all seemed to be converging on Skye’s position.

“Skye!” Grant hissed into his comm unit that was connected to Skye’s. “Three people, all surrounding you!”

He saw as Skye stopped suddenly below,  _ “What? Where?”  _ she asked frantically.  _ “Where the hell are they?” _

“All about maybe fifty feet or so away from you.” Grant replied, standing to his feet. “I can take out one now. But be prepared to fight, they’re coming at you and we still don’t know what they do if these are the Inhumans.”

_ “Grant, don’t try to kill them. Please.” _

“Don’t worry, I won’t. That’s not my forte.” Grant stated, jumping off the ledge of the building towards the ground below. Now, it was well over a hundred foot drop, but he knew that he would make it unscathed. He had reflexes like a cat as well, so he would most definitely land on his feet. As he approached the ground, he flung out his hand, making a series of sparks accumulate in his palm. The sparks soon grew into a chain link, and then that link multiplied into a full-length chain of fire. 

Grant landed on his feet with a thud, landing right behind one of the figures that were approaching Skye. The figure, a man just a little shorter than Grant, spun around to face Grant. His eyes widened at the sight of the flaming chain in the new contender’s hand, but then he snarled and held up his own hands. The Inhuman’s hands were soon replaced by some kind of rock, to Grant’s surprise. 

“So, you are one of the guys we’re after then, huh?” Grant asked, running his fingers down the length of the chain. “This is kind of a rocky start, isn’t it? I mean, you were just about to approach my girlfriend and attack her, right? This really isn’t a way to start off well with me.”

The Inhuman snarled again, “You’re with SHIELD, aren’t you?” he asked, slightly approaching Grant and taking note of his black tac gear. “Looks like you’re prepared for war.”

Grant smiled, “Hell, that’s what I said earlier.” he commented, quickly sidestepping as the man charged at him. “But I didn’t think I would have to fight. I thought that we could just bring you three in. Now it looks like it’ll be a challenge.” He whipped out the chain of fire towards the Inhuman and grabbed him by a rock-covered wrist. Grant pulled back and sent the guy flying to the ground. “And you better not piss me off.”

“Go screw yourself.” the man spat, pulling back on the chain. “SHIELD’s not taking me and the guys in. We rule these parts with an iron fist.”

The fire chain dissipated as soon as it left Grant’s hand. Grant frowned and clenched his fists, causing them to erupt into flames. “What, you rule with fear?” he asked. “You scare the crap out of others by using your powers against them?” He sighed and shook his head, “That’s not what Inhuman abilities are for. Not at all. You don’t abuse them and use them to terrorize the innocent.” 

“So what?” the man spat, jumping to his feet and swinging his rock-covered fists at Grant. He didn’t expect for him to move so fast though, every move he made missed by inches. “If I enjoy it, why is it so wrong then?”

Suddenly, Grant disappeared in a column of flame, causing the Inhuman to freeze up and wonder to where he went. “That’s because it makes you the bad guy.” 

The Inhuman screamed out as he felt flaming-hot hands grab his neck from behind. He tried to claw at Grant’s hands, but couldn’t, “Get the hell off of me, you roach!” he screamed. “Leave me alone!” 

But another chain of fire appeared, but around his neck this time. He screamed as the skin on his neck began to bubble up and blister, the air being cut off from his lungs. Grant pushed him forward and sent a massive kick into his back, causing the man to hit the ground with a thud, his head cracking against the concrete. The chain faded away and Grant walked forward with a smile. 

“Cool powers, but doesn’t know how to put up a damn fight with them.” Grant muttered, crouching down to find the Inhuman unconscious. He sighed and traced the burn around the man’s neck, “Promised Skye I really wouldn’t hurt them and look what I did. Guess I got carried away. Don’t know what came over me though.” He stood to his feet, looking towards Skye’s location as a few tremors shook the ground, “Guess the other two found her. She’ll be okay.”

A few minutes passed before Skye’s voice crackled in Grant’s ear,  _ “Grant, please tell me you’ve got the other guy. I’ve got two of them out.” _

“Uh, yeah, I do. He’s out cold. What do you want me to do?” he asked, looking back to the unconscious Inhuman.

_ “Bring him to my location, I’m calling SHIELD for a containment unit. We’ll keep these three idiots out long enough for them to be put in a module or something. Be quick about it, Grant.” _

Skye’s voice faded out and Grant sighed, bending down and lifting up the Inhuman. Now, Grant figured that he had some kind of super strength or something because he found that he could lift heavy things with ease, but he honestly didn’t care. It just made things easier. He spun on his heels and walked towards where he figured that Skye was. 

Once he got to the location, he found her standing over two unconscious bodies. He sighed and walked to the bodies, throwing the Inhuman on top of him. He turned back around to find Skye frowning at him, “Uh, what?”

Skye pointed towards the burn mark on the man’s neck, “I thought you said that you weren’t going to hurt anyone?” she asked, crossing her arms.

Grant shrugged and approached her, looping an arm around her torso, “I don’t know. Got carried away I guess. Apparently these guys terrorize these streets or something. Use their powers over the innocent, pissed me off. That’s not what Inhuman are supposed to do, right? Aren’t they supposed to live in peace?”

Skye sighed, smiling as Grant buried his head into the crook of her neck, “Yeah, I think they are. Looks like we have different ideals than what others do. Some just decide to abuse their powers. Inhumans need to be unified, not split up like this. It’ll only cause trouble.”

“Hmmm?”

“Well, just ignore me right now.” she commented, pulling away from Grant briefly. “SHIELD should be here soon. We did our job. We can get back to the base and clean up. Then we’ll get that alone time you wanted.”

Grant definitely smiled and blushed at that. 

“But I think you did a really good job though. It’s your first time, but you did great.” she continued. “I’m proud of you.”

“Really?” Grant now wore a beaming smile, one of the smiles that Skye really loved to see. “You think so?”

Skye smiled back at him, “Yep, you dork. I do.”

And it was true. Grant did an amazing job for his first time out in the field with powers. Skye knew that he would only get better. She just hoped that he wouldn’t freak out during a mission though. That would only spell disaster for everyone. 

“You did great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that it's a little short, but it works. Not feeling like writing a whole lot tonight due to a painful knee, so I managed this. But I hope that you still enjoyed! Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	17. We've Gotta Do This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grant makes a realization about his and Skye's destiny.

(A While Later)

Once Skye and Grant got back to the base, they were to immediately see Coulson about how the mission went. This didn’t scare Skye at all, but it freaked the hell out of Grant who was afraid that he had done something terribly wrong. He may had seemed brave and tough during the mission, but once he got back to the base his paranoia rocketed sky-high. Now it seemed as though _everyone_ was staring him down and judging him. Skye had to assure him that everything was okay and that Coulson just wanted to see them for a post-mission debrief.

Skye had taken Grant by his hand and had led him straight into Coulson’s office, despite his protests about him wanting to change his clothes first. He absolutely hated the tac gear. He just wanted his jeans and t-shirt back. Something that wasn’t so stuffy and suffocating. And they had returned at night, so Grant was pretty sure that Skye had _other_ plans for him instead of him just being able to clean up and change.

They walked into Coulson’s office to find the Director standing patiently behind his desk, waiting for them. He nodded at them and gestured for them to sit down, “So I hear that the mission was a success.” he commented as the two Inhumans sat down.

“Yeah, other than the fact that Grant gave one of them a nasty burn on his neck for some reason.” Skye stated, sending a small glare in Grant’s direction. “But they are all in containment, right?”

Coulson nodded as he sat down as well, “Yes, they are. We took strong measures to make sure that they’re all securely locked up since they seem to be the types to hurt a lot of people if they do get out. But Grant burning one of them is not an issue, as long as it’s not serious.” He looked towards Grant, “It was in combat, right?”

Grant swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, “Uh, y-yes sir.” he stammered, nodding his head slightly. “But he didn’t hurt me at all, I moved way too fast for him. And I, uh, can apparently teleport in a way now.” he carefully and slowly explained, his paranoia showing big time.

Skye’s face fell as she looked back to him, “ _Teleport_?” she asked incredulously. “How in the hell can you teleport? You’re pyrokinetic.”

He shrugged, “I don’t really think that it’s truly teleporting.” he began, scratching at the back of his head. “I think my body turns into flames and disintegrates into embers, then I can move around freely like that. Then I rematerialize into my body. So I guess it looks like to whoever is watching me that I actually teleported when I really didn’t.”

Coulson nodded slowly, “So that’s another ability we can add to your listing. I don’t know what to call it, but I guess it’s the ability to fully transform your living tissue into fire. We’ll have to ask Simmons if she can figure out how that works since I don’t think that organic matter can turn into a _material_ such as fire like that. Maybe it’s some kind of organic material that looks like fire. But I don’t know, I’m not a scientist. It’s better to so see Simmons and the scientists about that so they can figure it out for you.”

Grant shrugged once more, not really wanting to dwell on the subject any longer. To be honest, the revelation of this new ability only made him feel like a bigger freak than he already believed himself to be. He was the Inhuman with no memories, the only apparently destined to lead all the others of his race by the side of the woman he loves. He didn’t know what any of it was, but he just tended to ignore it for the time being until it really showed up and they truly had to deal with it.

“But, anyways, good job on the mission you two.” Coulson continued, not waiting for either of them to speak. “I’m surprised that Grant did so well on his first mission.” That was actually the truth on Coulson’s part. He didn’t think that Grant would do so well since he had no memory of ever being out in the field. And Coulson also still really wasn’t fond of Grant, so that hatred played a part in his disbelief of him.

He nodded once more, “You two are free to go. Go get cleaned up, eat a little something, get some rest.” he stated, smiling at them. “I don’t think there will be another mission for a few days, so you’ve got a few days off. But I’ll tell you if something else comes up that I need you for. But you’re good right now.”

Skye stood up and turned to look at Grant, “Now, come on, Hotshot, let’s get going so we can get to bed as soon as possible. Let’s go get us a bite to eat, then we’ll head to the room, okay?” she asked.

Grant groaned internally. He just knew that she was purposely delaying him being able to take off the tac suit. She just loved to tease him like this. He glared at her and stood to his feet, “Alright, alright. But make it quick. I want to get this damn thing off.” he grumbled.

She smiled teasingly at him, “Hold your freaking horses, we’ll get to that.” she commented. “You just need to eat first, that’s all.”

“Fine, whatever the hell you say.”

* * *

 

(An Hour Later)

 

Grant sighed in relief as he stripped the shirt of his tac gear off and threw it to the floor. He had already gotten rid of the gear’s accessories when they had landed, so it was just the tight-fitting clothes now. “Thank God that’s over with.” he groaned, casting a seething glare at the shirt. He started to take the pants off, “Do you think Coulson would mind if I just happen to set these on fire?” he asked, throwing the pants aside as well.

“Uh, that’s not a good idea. I don’t think he would mind having to order new tac gear all because you decided that you wanted to make a bonfire out of them. And besides, the gear isn’t all that bad. The shirt really does show off your muscles. So that’s a plus right there.” Skye explained with another teasing smile. “You like my suit because of my boobs, right?”

A heavy blush grew on Grant’s freckled cheeks and he crossed his arms over his bare chest, “Yeah, maybe I do. Okay, so maybe my suit has something that you like about it, but it doesn’t change the fact that it sometimes feels like it’s squeezing me.”

Skye’s eyes trailed his underwear-clad frame, “That’s because you’re a heavily-muscled brute that is hard to find clothes for.” she retorted. “And the tac gear _is_ supposed to be form fitting. I just can’t help that you’re too big for them. And please, hang those up in the closet before either of us trips over them.”

Grant shrugged and bent down to pick up the black clothing, “Whatever.” he mumbled, taking the clothes over to the closet. He was silent for a while before he spoke again, “Skye, why do some Inhumans act like those guys that we caught earlier?” he asked.

Skye blinked, “Huh?”

He hung up the gear and turned back around, “I mean, why do some think that they can use their powers to terrorize normal humans?” he reiterated, walking back towards her. “Why can’t they just live in peace with everyone else? Just because we have powers doesn’t mean that we’re the better race. We’re still technically human, right?”

“Well, I really don’t know, Grant. In some cases, Terrigenesis does make some go crazy and that’s what makes them attack others. But some, I guess, do get some kind of superiority complex over normal humans and think that gives them the right to basically terrorize them.” Skye explained, watching Grant’s confused expression.

“Is this something that we can stop?” he asked, coming up to her and wrapping an arm around her torso. “Can we stop our own kind from running amok like that? Why can’t they just live in peace with humanity?”

Skye shrugged, resting her head against Grant’s bare chest, “I really don’t think that Inhumans are supposed to intermingle with humans. My own mother led Afterlife for a very long time and she promoted isolation from humanity. That’s why Afterlife is in such a secluded place. But it’s also a sanctuary for our kind, a lot who stayed there chose to stay there because they felt unsafe in the human world.

My mother didn’t have the best ideals, but she did have good intentions. Inhumans are afraid that humans will scorn them for their powers. That’s why they tend to stay away. Now they don’t have that sanctuary anymore.” she continued. “So they live in fear.”

“So, do you think that’s what we’re supposed to do?” Grant questioned, pulling away from her. “Rebuild the sanctuary so all the Inhumans have a safe place to live? We don’t have to be like your mother and promote isolation, they can still mingle in if they want. But they do need that safe place to live out their lives. And maybe we’re supposed to oversee that. We don’t have to be their rulers, just the ones that they look up to and can trust. We just lead them in the right direction. I just don’t know when that will happen.”

Skye blinked, immediately knowing that Grant was absolutely right. They needed to rebuild Afterlife to provide that safe place and they needed to lead the Inhumans on a right path so they didn’t end up like the ones that they caught earlier. She took a breath and went back into his arms, “I suppose that you’re right, Grant. I know it’s a lot to take in, especially with the suspicion that we’re actually immortal. But we can’t tell anyone of this yet.” she stated.

Grant ran a hand up the back of her shirt, she had already changed, “But how do we know when it’s the right time for everything?” he asked. “When do we know when to start?” He leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

She buried herself back into his unnaturally warm chest, despite that he was sweaty and hadn’t shower yet. Perhaps she could drag him into the shower with her in a bit. But she didn’t want to move from his embrace just yet.

“I feel like it’s just something that we know. It’ll come.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, but my computer wasn't working right for a few days. But it's good now, so I should be back on track with this. So Grant now firmly believes that he and Skye have to rebuild Afterlife and lead it from there. He's got a solid policy when it comes to how Inhumans should act towards humans and he wants that to be in place. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	18. The Wicked Side of Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grant proves that all is not okay with him.

(About A Week Later)

Grant paced the hallways near Coulson’s office waiting for Skye to come out of a meeting with the Director himself. He hated to be alone like this. He was always afraid that something would happen to him when Skye wasn’t with him. Even though she wasn’t that far away, it felt to him like she was miles away. He couldn’t stand it. That connection between the two of them felt like lightning in his veins, sparking to get a hold of her.

He eventually found a corner to lean himself against, one that was close enough to Skye that settled down his nerves just a bit. He hated to be so codependent on her, but he knew that it was the same for her. They had to have one another. Whatever this symbiotic relationship was, it was here to stay. It wasn’t going to be broken ever. The both of them had to die for it to be truly severed.

About ten minutes passed and Grant had let himself become immersed in his thoughts. He had been here for a couple of months and he still was trying to figure out his last name. It was like it had been completely erased from his mind and it bothered him so much. He couldn’t stand it. And nothing fit together within his mind, there was just nothing there. He hated being the guy that had no clue to who he really was. He was the freakish amnesiac with pyrokinetic abilities and the freakish connection with another Inhuman. There was just nothing normal about him at all.

And he had been standing there a good twenty or so minutes when a gruff and unfamiliar voice growled at him, causing him to snap to full attention.

“Do you freaks just stand around doing nothing?”

Grant opened his eyes to see an agent, around his height and build, glaring at him with a hateful gaze. “Excuse me?” he asked, crossing his arms and standing straight up. His rage was already starting to build because of this guy’s remarks about him being a freak. This wasn’t a good sign.

“You heard me. Do you freaks just stand around doing absolutely nothing?” the man growled, pointing a long, slender finger at Grant. “’Cause I always see the freaks like you sitting around and not doing a single thing.”

“If you would like to know what I’m doing, I’m waiting for my girlfriend.” Grant replied in a dead tone. “And I don’t just sit around doing nothing. I was on a mission a few days ago to take down some rouge Inhumans. And I help my girlfriend run the gifted sector of this base.” Fire started to shine in his eyes.

“Oh yeah, you two are the nasty couple that are constantly all over each other.” the agent sneered, approaching Grant a little too close for comfort. “Every time I see you two, you’ve got your hands all over each other’s asses. No one wants to see that kind of PDA, pal.”

Grant’s nostrils flared in anger, “And what does this have to do with anything?” he growled. “I don’t even know you. Suddenly, you’re all up in my face dehumanizing me and my girlfriend. And making fun of our relationship. What the hell did I ever do to you?”

“Every single one of your kind is a freak. You shouldn’t exist. You better be glad that I found you now and I didn’t wait until later for my friends to show up. A lot of us don’t appreciate your kind having free reign of the base.” The man got close and pinned Grant to the wall. “I hate your kind, I’d like to see all of you dead.”

Faster than the agent could blink, Grant had him spun around and pinned up against the wall, “Clearly, you have no idea to what I’m capable of, do you?” he hissed lowly into the agent’s ear. “We don’t want war, we just want to live peacefully. But if you want to invoke my wrath, then that’s what you’ll get. I’ll show you why they call me Hellfire.” Grant’s voice had grown cold and low, it was clear he was about at his breaking point. “I’d rather not try anything, but you’re about to make me.”

“You’re all freaks.” the agent spat, spitting in Grant’s face. He was completely oblivious to the red color that had settled into the Inhuman’s irises. The sign that he was about to blow.

Grant hissed and slammed his arm up against the agent’s throat. He let his free arm fall to his side and let a chain of fire spark to life within his palm. One end of it dropped to the concrete with a hiss as he raised it up, a snarl on his face, “You better leave me alone before you find out what the hell this can do to you.” he barked. “I don’t want to kill you, but I will if I have to.”

There was a quick movement from the agent’s side and there was a sudden sharp pain in Grant’s gut. He stumbled back and looked down to see a knife sticking out of his stomach. The chain fell to the ground with a hiss as the agent swung his fist into Grant’s nose, breaking it, and causing him to fall to the ground. Blood gushed out of both his nose and stomach, and Grant could hardly even tell what was going on.

“Seems like you freaks aren’t immortal after all. A knife to the gut will still get you!” the agent screeched in laughter. He went to turn around and walk off, but he stopped as soon as a roar sounded from behind him and the heat of the room increased dramatically.

“You can’t kill me! You can’t kill me!”

The agent spun around to see Grant now standing, a demonic light in his eyes and dark, red fire spewing from his hands. The knife still was stuck in his gut and blood was now dried all over his face. The agent backed away and raised his hands in the air, but was too afraid to say anything.

Grant slowly stalked towards him, “Should’ve left me alone.” he growled. “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you.” If anything, this was the full terror of Grant’s rage, the rage fueled by his powers and his numerous mental issues. This was the rage that killed. The rage no one had seen before. He backed the agent into the wall. A scream rang out as Grant took his flaming hands and pinned the agent to the brick, well beyond burning his arms.

The angrier Grant was, the hotter his flames were.

“Please, please, let me be.” the agent pleaded, fully unaware of the wrath he had invoked.

Grant was beyond words by now. His rage had grown way too much. He hissed and took the knife from his gut and rammed the blade straight into the agent’s chest, sending blood into the air and splashing it onto Grant’s face. The agent was nothing but screams now. Grant could faintly hear other cries too, cries screaming at him for him to stop. But he wasn’t quite processing those at the moment.

Grant screamed, something that didn’t quite sound human and rammed the blade into the agent’s throat. The agent let out something akin to a gurgling sound as blood seeped out of his neck. Grant screamed again and threw the agent to the ground, leaving him to die. The cries grew louder as a buzzing noise grew in his head. Just what was he doing?

He turned to see Skye, Coulson, May, and Lincoln all gaping at him. Their eyes were locked on the now-dead agent that had drowned in his own blood, the blood that was drying all over Grant’s body, Grant’s crooked nose, and the massive rip in his shirt. They knew that he had lost it.

Skye knew it most of all. She had felt his rage as a dark hunger deep within her stomach. She had immediately known that something was wrong. And then she had felt something akin to a knife being driven into her gut.

Grant blinked, coming back to reality. He looked to their scared faces. He looked to the blood-covered body on the floor with the burns on its arms. He looked to the blood on his hands. “I-I don’t… I-I don’t…” he stammered, but he never finished the sentence. His knees buckled and his eyes rolled back into his head as he fell unconscious to the floor.

“This is why we should’ve never let him out!” Lincoln exclaimed. “He’s a monster! He’s a freaking killer!” He pointed at the dead body, “He just flat-out murdered that guy!”

Coulson had no idea what to say. He had trusted Grant for so long, and now he had killed one of his agents. That trust had been broken. “Get him into containment. Get a cleanup crew.” he ordered numbly.

Skye had ran over to Grant’s unconscious side, “Coulson, he was stabbed for God’s sakes!” she exclaimed, checking his stomach. “And his nose is broken. He doesn’t need containment, he needs a doctor!”

“Skye, you just saw him kill one of my agents!” Coulson barked. “I tried to trust him, I hoped that he wouldn’t go back to his old ways. But he did. He needs to be locked-up and we need to figure out what the hell is wrong with him!”

“Nothing’s wrong with him, Coulson! He just fought back, that’s all! Grant would never kill someone intentionally!”

“Fighting back doesn’t mean driving a blade into the assailant’s neck, Skye.” May deadpanned, crossing her arms. “He lost it, there’s more to Ward than just his powers. Something is wrong with him. And he cannot be left to roam around the base like he has been doing. He needs to be contained and watched.”

Skye frowned, her eyes scanning the blood staining Grant. She honestly didn’t know what was going on. Yes, she just saw him stab and kill another agent. But she had felt his rage. She knew that the agent had angered him. She knew that the agent tried to kill him first. But Coulson had reverted back to his old ways of thinking about Grant just like that. There was no fighting with him. She was honestly starting to think that SHIELD was no longer a safe place for either her or Grant.

No, SHIELD was never a safe place for Grant. But that also meant it wasn’t a safe place for her either. If she had to deal with the others being mean towards Grant when something that he couldn’t help happened, she couldn’t handle it. And it seemed like there were agents here prejudiced against Inhumans. No, they couldn’t stay here.

“Skye, he’s going into containment.” Coulson ordered. “Step away from him and let him go.”

“Coulson,”

“There are no buts about it, Skye!” he snapped, pointing at her. “Ward is unable to continue to be like how he is! I hoped that he could stay the way he was, but it seems like he can’t. I’ve been watching him closely for a while now. I was afraid that something bad would come out of that mission last week. But it looks like it waited until today.” He pointed at Grant as armed agents came to get him, “I’m sorry, Skye. But this is how it’s going to be. We could never trust him.”

The agents pulled Skye out of the way as they grabbed Grant. She tried to protest, but couldn’t.  They were taking him away from her, they were taking half of her away. And all because of something he couldn’t help. All because of a past hatred that no one but her could seem to get over. All except Fitz.

And she could do nothing but watch helplessly as they dragged Grant away from her. Her powers didn’t come to her. Nothing would.

They had taken Grant away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will tell you now. This is the event that really pushes Skye and Grant towards Afterlife. It shows them that they're not safe at SHIELD due to prejudice and still lingering hatred of Grant. And this was much darker than the original event. I know it was kind of out there, but I'm sick and this was the best I could do. The croup isn't fun. But I do hope that you did like it. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	19. Before We Fall Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grant expresses that he no longer wants to be at SHIELD.

Skye didn’t see Grant until late that night, and that had been way too long with her. Every part of her was so addicted to him, it felt as though she was going through some kind of withdrawal. And she knew that Grant felt the same way. Coulson had marked the pod that he was imprisoned in as off-limits to everyone. Even Skye.

She couldn’t believe that Coulson had turned on Grant so easily. Yeah, Grant had killed a person in sheer rage, but she knew that he couldn’t help it. Something had happened within in brain and had controlled him. She yearned to know just what he remembered about the incident. But there hadn’t been much of Coulson that had trusted Grant, so that one death was more than enough to sever that trust for the older man.  It had been more than enough to refuel Coulson’s, and the others’, hatred of him. And Grant didn’t know to why they all hated him so.

It was sometime after one in the morning when Skye snuck into Grant’s containment module. She had disabled all feeds surrounding the room, so she wouldn’t be found out for a long time now. She just had to see Grant.

Coming into the darkened room, she could faintly see a figure huddled in the corner. Her chest tightened as she approached, she knew that Grant felt miserable and she herself did too. They just couldn’t be separated without getting sick. “Grant?” she called softly. “Are you awake?”

She crouched down by the figure after turning on the lights of the room. Grant stiffened-up and immediately pressed his body into hers. He didn’t say anything for a long time, he just stayed pressed into her body.

Skye gently wrapped her around him, sighing as she felt that buzz reignite in her veins. She pressed a kiss to the top of his head as he tried to bury himself into her body. She knew that he was beyond scared, he had no idea what was happening and had no idea to why he was locked-up.

“Skye?” he croaked after a few minutes of silence. “Why am I in here? Why does everyone suddenly hate me again? I-I can’t remember what happened.” His voice was so small and full of fear.

“Do you remember anything at all?” she asked softly, running her fingers through the fluff of his hair. “At least one thing?”

“I-I remember that man approaching me, calling me a freak. He made fun of me and you.” Grant whimpered, his body starting to shake. And by the tightness in his chest, Skye knew that he had a panic attack coming on. “I fought back, mainly to scare him away. Then it all goes blank. Then I see you, Coulson, and those two other agents all staring at me in fear. And there’s blood all over me, and a dead body on the floor.” Sobs started to wrack his body, “D-Did I kill that person, Skye?”

Skye gulped and knew that she couldn’t skirt around the truth with him, that would only make things worse, “Unfortunately, sweetheart, you did. I think you snapped and your powers controlled you.” she said softly, stroking his back and trying to get him to calm down. “That agent tried to kill you. He stabbed you in the stomach and I guess that made something in your mind break. Grant, that rage is dangerous and almost another being sometimes. I know that you weren’t in control. You were just fighting back and couldn’t help what you were doing at all.”

She reached up and pulled up his shirt to reveal a large scar crossing the middle of his gut. It had already healed and had scarred up. She dropped the hem of his shirt and looked at him. Grant looked absolutely miserable. He looked as though he had aged ten years in just hours and the red glow was still in his eyes, mainly because of his fear. Coulson had had his clothes replaced with what looked like to be prison garb, and that had singe holes all in it. He looked like he was near death and he probably wanted just that now.

“I’m just glad that you’re okay, Grant.” she cooed softly. “It’ll be alright. Everything will be okay.”

“And how will it be?” he asked, his voice scratchy and raw from crying. “Everyone hates me again and I know that they view me as some kind of monster. I don’t know why they hate me so much, I’ve never done anything to them. I never wanted to kill someone, Skye. And now I did. Nothing will be okay again. I’m tired of trying to get everyone to like me when they never will.

Fitz is the only person out of them that made an attempt to be my friend. Everyone else hates me.” he continued. “I can’t continue being here if I fear everyone that resides here. And they all fear me. I see why Inhumans are in so much danger. You do one little thing wrong with your powers and suddenly everyone hates you. I can’t do this anymore, Skye.”

Skye took a breath and drew him closer to her, “Grant, ever since you came here and we bonded or whatnot, everyone else hasn’t been particularly fond of me either. It’s hard, but I continued here because it was my job and I had nowhere else to go. I don’t have much here working for me anymore. Only you.”

“Then can we leave here?” he asked, looking into her eyes. The red glow had subsided, but his eyes were still bloodshot. “If neither of us like it here, then why do we stay?”

“But where would we go, Grant?” Skye questioned, wiping a tear off of Grant’s cheek. “We’ll be fugitives if we step foot off of this base. There’s nowhere to go.”

“Why can’t we find Afterlife and live there?”

“Afterlife’s too torn up right now and isn’t a hospitable place. We can’t live there right now.” Skye began to explain. “It would need a lot of fixing up for us to live there.”

“Then why can’t we do just that?” Grant asked quietly. “I’m sure a lot of the Inhumans here would love to go there and they would be more than willing to help fix it up. We could make it our home and we’ll be away from SHIELD.”

Grant did have a point. Skye knew that a lot of the Inhumans on this base and at the Cocoon wanted to leave, so she could convince them to go. And if they all helped to fix up Afterlife, it would be as good as new in no time. She knew that asking Lincoln to help was risky, but she knew he didn’t like it here much either. He could help coordinate, along with Joey and Elena, a basic mass exodus of Inhumans to Afterlife.  And it would provide safety for Grant. That’s all that mattered to her.

“I’ll see what I can do, Grant. But it’s all very risky.” she replied. “It’s not safe for you to stay here anymore. I’m going to try to find a way to get you out and then we’ll find somewhere to hide until we can figure out what to do. I’ll stay in contact with Lincoln and coordinate with him.”

“Lincoln? I thought he hated us.”

“He hates being at SHIELD more than he hates us, Grant.  I imagine he’ll be more than willing to go back to Afterlife. That’s where he came from anyways.”

“Just get me out of here, Skye. I don’t want to die here.” Grant whimpered, burying himself once again into her. “I really don’t want to die here.”

Skye took Grant’s head into her hands and pressed a kiss to his forehead, “Don’t worry, sweetheart, you’re not going to die here” she whispered. She smiled as Grant returned the kiss straight onto her lips. It was short and sweet, but meant the world to her. “I’ll get you out of here, I promise.”

Grant didn’t respond to that, he just took Skye into his arms. He nuzzled his head into her hair, pressing gentle kisses to her scalp. “Can you stay in here please?” he asked. “You know that neither of us can be alone. Screw what Coulson says, he should know that we can’t be apart.”

“Coulson’s not very wise sometimes.” Skye commented. That was definitely the truth. Coulson made a lot of rash decisions that got them in trouble. Like killing Grant and subsequently releasing Hive to the world. Skye had lost a lot of respect for the man since then. And now that Coulson was trying to pry them apart, it just made things worse.

She sighed and gently pulled herself from Grant’s arms, “But I’ll stay. I don’t think there’s much he can do to ‘discipline ‘me, especially since this is technically a matter of my health.” She held out a hand to him and he gingerly took it.

Grant rose to his feet and they went over to his bed after flipping off the lights. They slid underneath the covers and immediately intertwined with each other, reestablishing the buzz. Skye smiled as she heard Grant sigh in pleasure. She was just glad that he was happy now. He was looking forward to running away. And to be honest, she was too. There just wasn’t much here for her anymore. Grant had every part of her.

“I love you, Skye.” Grant whispered, burying his head into the crook of Skye’s neck and drawing her close.

Skye’s smile grew even bigger. She loved it when he did this, she absolutely loved his touch. And if the situation was better, they would definitely be doing _other_ things. But now wasn’t the time, it wasn’t safe. It wouldn’t be safe for them for a long time.

“I love you too, Grant. And don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here. I’ll get both of us out of here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so this is what leads to Afterlife. Skye will find a way for them to leave and live in the Inhuman city. And she'll also find a way to get SHIELD's Inhumans there as well. So things are really starting to heat up now. I hoped that you enjoyed! Keep the comments and kudos coming! (Maybe five or so?)


	20. And We Get Out of Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye goes to Fitz for help.

(Two Days Later)

Skye made sure that Grant was fast asleep before she slipped out of his containment module. She didn’t want to leave him alone when he was awake, especially since he felt absolutely miserable. Since Coulson had locked him up the other day, Grant had fallen back into a deep depression. He had barely eaten and wouldn’t get out of his bed in the module. His only comfort was Skye’s presence and the knowledge that she was trying to get them both out of SHIELD.

Now, Coulson had known that Skye had been in Grant’s module, but hadn’t said anything about it yet. He figured that saying something to Skye would only set her off since she was already pissed at him about locking Grant up. Yes, Grant had killed someone, but considering the circumstances Grant had acted in self-defense. The scar crossing his abdomen was the mark to prove so.

And Skye had no clue of how to get Grant out of SHIELD and somewhere safe. And she was also thinking of asking Joey and Elena to go with them since Grant did want to go to Afterlife. But sneaking out three other Inhumans was a big risk since Coulson had a close eye on all the Inhumans in the base. Skye also really had no one to help them since mostly everyone hated Grant with a burning passion. The only exception to that rule was Fitz, and she didn’t really want to ask the young engineer such a big favor. But Skye really had no other choice than to ask Fitz.

Skye made her way away from the containment modules, leaving Grant to himself. She hoped that he would stay asleep for a while and wouldn’t wake up soon and start freaking out. And Grant’s freak outs had been getting more and more violent lately, Skye wasn’t sure of the cause of it. Maybe it was just a psychological reaction to being in such an oppressive environment. It wasn’t safe for Grant here, it wasn’t safe for any of the Inhumans.

Making her way to the lab, Skye hoped that Fitz was alone. She couldn’t ask him about helping with a breakout if Simmons was in there. Simmons still absolutely hated Grant and there was no way that she would be willing to help them at all. Luckily, Skye found Fitz working on some kind of device all alone.

“Fitz?” she asked quietly, walking into the lab.

The young engineer lifted his head and looked over to Skye, smiling at her and waving her over. “Hey, how’s Ward doing?” he asked as she came over to him.

Skye shook her head, “Not very well. He’s depressed again and he won’t eat at all. I assume he may be trying to starve himself, I don’t know. I can’t even get him to get out of bed.” she explained. “I don’t know how much longer he can last in there. It’s not good for him at all.”

“Skye, I see why Coulson wanted to lock Ward up just like that, it’s Ward for God’s sakes.” Fitz admitted, looking at Skye. “But he should be a little more lenient with him at least. It’s not like it’s the Grant Ward that betrayed us all. He doesn’t remember any of that.”

Fitz took a breath and shook his head, “Skye, I’ve seen Ward freak out before, it’s not pretty. If anything, that’s what happened the other day. He freaks and he inadvertently gets violent. I don’t know what it is. It’s either his powers or even his mental issues that are doing that.” he continued. “Yes, he needs to be reprehended for his actions, but not like how Coulson is doing it. If anything, that’s what got us in trouble in the first place after Hydra. Ward needs help, not containment.”

Skye bit her lip and briefly looked around the lab before looking back to Fitz, “That’s why I’m here, Fitz.” she began. “I need you help with something.”

The young engineer raised an eyebrow, “Help? With what?” he questioned. “I assume it’s about Ward.”

“I need your help to try and get Ward out of SHIELD.” Skye answered. “I need to get him somewhere safe. Somewhere where no one will hurt him or be afraid of him.”

“Like where?” Fitz asked, his face kind of paled. He didn’t expect such a question from her.

Skye took a breath, “I was thinking about Afterlife. I was going to see if any of the other Inhumans wanted to come as well. There needs to be a safe place for all Inhumans to live again.”

“Wait, didn’t Afterlife get badly damaged when Gonzales or whatnot had it attacked?”

“Yeah, but it can be rebuilt.”

“But why all Inhumans, why not just find a safe place for you and Ward to settle down?” Fitz questioned, frowning at Skye.

Now she knew that she had to explain what she and Grant had found the other week. About what she suspected of them being. But she knew that she could trust Fitz with this information.

“Fitz,” she began slowly. “I haven’t told anyone this yet, mainly because I didn’t know what to make of it. A couple of weeks ago, I was looking into Inhuman texts about the whole thing with Grant’s rebirth and our weird connection. There wasn’t much, but I did find one thing that connected to Grant. It was basically something about two Inhumans destined to lead the species together and if one dies before that happens, they come back to life to fulfill the prophecy or whatnot. I believe that prophecy entails us.”

Fitz blinked, not really sure of what to say, “You really think that?” he asked lightly. “I mean, it’s such a big thing. That isn’t something to truly be guessing about, is it?”

Skye shrugged, “Fitz, I honestly don’t know. It was the only text about an Inhuman coming back to life the way Grant did. I know that Grant died when we killed Hive. He was dead for an entire year at that. And the reason to why Grant can’t remember any of his past is because he isn’t supposed to. This new life is maybe supposed to be the one that he remembers, not the errors of his past life. But I honestly don’t know.”

With a long nod, Fitz really didn’t know what to say. He just decided to move on, “So, who are you going to take with you?” he asked quietly.

“Maybe Joey and Elena, I know that they don’t like it here. Lincoln is a sore choice right now because he hates Grant. I’m thinking of asking him about it, but maybe having him stay here for a while and help get the other Inhumans to Afterlife. It going to be a lot of work, but I do think it can be done.” Skye explained. “But I need help and getting Grant out is my first priority. Fitz, I’m not going to make you do anything, but I do need your help. Please?”

Fitz thought for a long while before he nodded and smiled at Skye, “Yes, I’ll help. Only because you’re asking and I am starting to see Ward as my friend again.” he answered. “Tell me what I need to do. The best way to get you two and possibly Joey and Elena out is probably to create a surveillance blackout in the middle of the night.”

Skye smiled, “Thank you, Fitz. Honestly, thank you. And yeah, that’s probably a good way to go. But give me a few days. I need to make sure that Grant is up to it and I need to talk to Joey, Elena, and Lincoln about everything. And, Fitz, please do not tell anyone about this conversation, not even Jemma. No one can know about this.”

Fitz nodded again, “Yeah, sure thing. But it is probably best to make sure that Grant is okay first though. I don’t want to know what would happen if he did completely lose control of his powers. Skye, many would get hurt. And if he lost control while getting out of the base….

“Yeah, I know. There would be no hope for him. Hell, the entire base would probably go up in flames. Grant’s definitely not the most stable guy in the world.” Skye trailed off and looked to the side, shaking her head. She sighed, “I’m just surprised that Coulson turned on him so fast. I mean, just last week he let Grant go on a mission. Now he hates him again. Guess that hate isn’t ever going to go away.”

“It’s hard to understand that he isn’t the same Ward at all, Skye.” Fitz admitted, standing to his feet. “Y’know, it freaked me out that time he started talking to me during breakfast. It was just strange. But he doesn’t remind me of the old Ward at all, he’s just too clumsy and lighthearted now.”

“I know.” Skye stated lightly. “I know that. But that’s why I want to get him out of here. Grant doesn’t deserve to be here, he needs to be somewhere safe and with his own kind. SHIELD isn’t the place for someone like him. He’s too mentally unstable to be in such a stressful environment.”

“Don’t worry, Skye. I’ll see what I can do to get you two out. Hopefully a surveillance blackout will work. And it probably needs to be done by the end of the week.”

Skye smiled again, “But seriously, thank you, Fitz. You know that this means the world to me.”

Fitz smiled back, “Y’know, it’s really not a problem at all. Just go check on Ward, will ya’?”

Turning around, Skye thanked him again and left the lab. She started to make her way back towards the containment modules.

At least she had one other person she could trust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, I meant to update last night but a nasty storm came through and ruined that. But here it is! So Fitz agrees to help Skye get Grant and possibly the other Inhumans out of SHIELD. Will this plan actually go through? Keep the comments and kudos coming! (Maybe five or so?)


	21. Things Start to Come Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye tells Grant of how the plan is going, and Grant remembers something important.

(That Night)

Skye slid her way into Grant’s containment cell, finding Grant sitting on the edge of the bed while staring down at his hands. She paused slightly, wondering what was going on, but continued anyways. “Grant?” she asked quietly. “You okay, sweetheart?”

Grant looked up and blinked, “Uh, yeah, I’m fine.” he stated in kind of a weak voice. “I was just thinking, that’s all.”

“About what?” Skye questioned, sitting down on the bed right beside him and slid an arm around him. “It isn’t bad, is it?”

He just shook his head and sighed, “Just about me. I still can’t figure out who I am at all, Skye. I’ve started having strange dreams again. Nothing I can really describe other than distant screams and cries. I know that they’re supposed to be bad things and they’re related to me. But why would bad things be related to me?”  
 he questioned, honest to God confusion shining in his eyes. He sighed once again and ran a hand through his hair, “I’m really starting to worry about my past, Skye. Was I some kind of _monster_?”

Skye gulped, not sure of what to say in response to Grant’s statement. Pretty much, he was right. He had been a practical monster even before Hive. But Grant didn’t need to know that at all. He didn’t need to know that he had been a murderous traitor.  He didn’t need to know of the horrible things that he had done. This was supposed to be a new life, and the mistakes of his past didn’t need to be prevalent. That’s why they needed to leave. SHIELD would do nothing but remind  both Grant and Skye of those mistakes.

She sighed and shrugged, “I really hope not, Grant.” she said, trying her best to comfort him. “I don’t think you’ve got that capability.”

“Skye, I killed a person a few days ago, all because I got angry. To be honest, I _am_ a monster.” Grant stressed, a dull light forming in his eyes. “I can’t control my rage, it _controls_ me.”

“Grant, sweetheart, that wasn’t your fault.” Skye began, running a hand down his arm. “That guy was threatening you and then he _stabbed_ you for God’s sakes. You were just fighting back. You can’t help that the guy died.”

“I stabbed the shit out of him, Skye.” Grant looked at her, the sad look in his eyes drilling into her. “That’s not normal. I know that I have issues. That amount of rage pretty much makes me equivalent to the Hulk. I’m a damned monster, Skye. And it doesn’t help that my dreams further elaborate on them.”

Skye took another breath, “Grant, will it help if I tell you that you’re not a monster. Being ill doesn’t make you a monster at all. You just need somewhere where you can heal and cope from this, Grant. And those dreams don’t mean a single damn thing. Have they at least mean one good thing lately?”

He shrugged, “I… I think. A few days ago, I had a dream where people were screaming at me for some reason. I’m not sure to who they were. But I do remember someone yelling something about someone named Ward.” He paused slightly, “I’ve been thinking on in, and I think that person is me. I think my last name is Ward.”

And Skye couldn’t help but to smile, at least Grant was remembering some things. It may not be a whole lot, but it was still his last name. “Huh, Grant Ward. That’s a nice name.” she commented.

Grant started to blush and scratched the back of his head sheepishly, “Heh, at least I’m remembering something, right? I know that I still don’t know my full name since my middle name is still a mystery. But it’s still something, right?”

“It’s definitely something, sweetheart. It’s just good that you are starting to remember things.” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. She absolutely loved it when Grant got flustered. “But I’ve got some even better news for you.”

“Like what?” Grant asked, wrapping his arms around Skye and pulling her down to the bed, causing her to laugh. “It better be something really, really good.”

“I think I’ve got us a way out of here.” Skye commented through a massive giggle. “And we can get out soon.”

Grant blinked and looked at her, slightly pulling away from her, “Really?” he questioned, a bright look replacing the dull light in his eyes. “How?”

“I asked Fitz about helping us get out. We’ll have to leave in the middle of the night, but he can create a surveillance blackout so we can get out without being noticed for a while.” Skye started to explain. “And I’ve already asked Joey and Elena if they wanted to go, and they did say yes. So at least we’ve got two others going with us. We can probably leave within the next couple of days.”

“What about Lincoln? Weren’t you going to ask him about helping us or something?” Grant asked, brushing his lips up against Skye’s cheek.

“Well, I haven’t asked him yet.” Skye admitted, smiling as Grant kissed her once more. “That’s the last thing I’ve got to do. And since he’s got a little more to do, I’ve been trying to think up a way to ask him.”

“Don’t say that it’s help for us two, say it’s help for the Inhumans.” Grant stated. “Cause that’s technically right, isn’t it?”

“I guess that you’re right, Grant. It’s not for us, it’s for the Inhumans. If he can help funnel Inhumans over to Afterlife, it’ll help the city grow. We need all the help we can get the city back to its former glory.” Skye explained. “I feel like Lincoln will be a good liaison between us and the Inhumans at SHIELD.”

“And what happens when Coulson finds out all about this?” he asked, drawing her close once more.

“Why do you care about what Coulson thinks? You don’t like him since he gave up on you. It’s not for the betterment of SHIELD, but for the Inhumans themselves. I know that Coulson is a little controlling, but if we go ahead and do this, he won’t be able to do a single thing about it.”

“You sure? I don’t want anything going wrong all because Coulson fights back.”

“I’m sure that everything will be okay, sweetheart.” Skye reassured him. “We’ve just got to go in headfirst and take ahold of the reigns. It may be a whole lot to do, but I’m sure that we can both do it.”

Grant gave her a big smile and buried his head into her neck, “As long as you feel like it’ll all be okay, I’m okay with it too.” he replied. “As long as you can promise that I’ll be okay. I’m just not so sure about myself.”

“You’ll be fine, sweetheart. I believe that you’ll be okay. We’ll all be okay. And we’ll talk about this in the morning.” she told him softly. “Just get to sleep.”

“You ready for bed already?” Grant asked, not realizing that Skye was in her pajamas. And he hadn’t realized that it was night. “I mean, I don’t care, but still.”

“It’s like ten at night, Grant. So, yes, I’m ready for bed.”

He smiled and drew her close after allowing her to settle down into the covers, “Good.” He kissed her several times, causing her to giggle again. He never grew tired of this, he would never get tired of her.

“Grant, please!” Skye giggled, lightly hitting him on his shoulder. “Let’s just sleep, okay?”

“Alright.” Grant stated simply, allowing Skye to cuddle into him. “I’ll see you in the morning, sweetheart. I love you.”

“Love you too, Grant.” Skye mumbled, smiling as Grant kissed her again. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Yeah, me neither. Don’t ever leave me.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t. We’ve got pretty much the rest of time together. We’re not ever leaving each other. Ever.”

“Good.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there you go! Grant remembers his last name and Skye's plan to get them out goes further along. It's just a matter if Lincoln wants to help or not. I hoped that you enjoyed! Keep the comments and kudos coming! (Maybe five or so.)


	22. And Can You Hear Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye gets Lincoln's help in the escape plan.

“You want me to do  _ what _ ?”

Skye sighed and looked at Lincoln, whom of which was actually scowling at her, “I want you to help me and Grant get most of the Inhumans in SHIELD to Afterlife.” she began to explain. “You stay here for a while and help ferry any Inhumans that are still here.”

Lincoln looked at her with an incredulous look, “Skye, do you realize just how freaking crazy that plan is?” he asked. “Yes, I do agree that Inhumans do belong back in Afterlife in their own safe place, but you’re completely going against Coulson here. To be honest, he’s freaking crazy. If you piss him off, I don’t know what he’ll try to do against the Inhumans.”

“Yeah, I know that it’s risky. But the Inhumans aren’t safe here anymore.” Skye added on, shaking her head. “Not at all.”

“The Inhumans or just Ward?” Lincoln questioned coldly, crossing his arms in disapproval. “Skye, I’m not doing this if the only reason to why you’re doing this is Ward.”

“No, it’s not just Ward. Yes, what happened with him made me realize that none of us are safe here. The Inhumans just get sent here to be locked up, their only hope of solace being becoming a SHIELD agent. If they screw up once, they get labeled dangerous and unstable and then never see the light of day again.” Skye explained. “Inhumans should’ve never left Afterlife.”

“I do see where you are coming from, Skye. I really do. I hate being here, but I’ve truly have nowhere else to go other than here. They let me help in the medical bay and I’m happy doing that. But you are talking about what happened with  _ Ward _ of all people, you know.

You realize the reason to why Coulson turned on him so fast is because of his past. Coulson doesn’t care that Ward somehow can’t remember who he is and all the crap that he’s done.” Lincoln continued, sitting down in a chair and scratching at his nose. “It’s because he was a complete monster in his past and Coulson, hell all of us, is afraid that that’s going to come back somehow. And Ward ended up stabbing a guy to death.” he said that with a hint of malice in his voice. “Once a murderer, always a murderer.”

Skye sighed and tried to keep her anger down. She really didn’t want to end up accidently hurting Lincoln. “Look, Grant did that because he snapped. The agent had already broken Grant’s nose and then stabbed him in the gut. Grant doesn’t even remember killing the agent.”

“So you want an unstable Inhuman with extreme anger issues and a subsequent memory issue to have free run of the base? That’s dangerous even if it wasn’t Ward. And, by the sounds of it, you’re trying to forgive the fact that Ward  _ killed  _ someone in an extremely violent way. I don’t care to whether or not he was in some other state of mind, he still killed someone.”

“Lincoln, I’m not trying to forgive that fact. Yes, Grant does have some very violent tendencies. But he needs help more than anything else. And SHIELD’s not the place for that. SHIELD’s not the place for any Inhuman to be.” Skye argued. “Lincoln, please, you still have to help us.”

“Give me one reason to. Don’t you realize that I don’t like the either of you, so if I’m going to help it’s not going to be for just the two of you. You’ve got to convince me to why this is a good idea for the Inhuman race.”

Skye took a deep breath, knowing that she had to tell Lincoln the truth behind her wanting to go to Afterlife. “Linc, do you remember when Coulson wanted you to look in my mother’s texts for some kind of reason to why me and Grant were connecting like how we were?” she asked quietly.

Lincoln narrowed his eyes and slightly nodded his head, “Yeah, I didn’t want to do it ‘cause I didn’t want to have anything to do with you and Grant.” he answered. “What about it?”

“He got me to look into it. And I did find something.”

“Like what?”

“You’re going to have a hard time believing me, but it was truly the only thing I could find detailing something about a resurrection. It was something along the lines of two Inhumans destined to lead the race. And if one dies before that happens, they come back to life.” Skye explained, a sense of urgency deep within her voice. “I honestly think that Grant and I are those two Inhumans.”

Lincoln almost snorted in amusement, “Seriously? You and Ward to lead the Inhuman race? That’s freaking ridiculous, Skye.” There was a hint of a smile on his face, “Anything else you want me to believe?”

Skye’s voice waivered slightly, “We’re immortal.” she said in a basic squeak.

The color completely drained from Lincoln’s face, “ _ What _ ?!” he exclaimed. “That’s freaking impossible, Skye. You’re making all of this shit up now. I think being around Ward has knocked a screw loose in your head or something.”

“I’m being serious, Lincoln!” Skye shouted. “The texts said that the two Inhumans would lead  _ until the end of time _ !”

“Skye, look, I’m all about the Inhumans returning back to Afterlife, but I really do think that you’ve gone delusional. It’s impossible for someone to be immortal.”

“There are records of unhuman beings living for a very long time. There’s the Asgardians for example. They live for thousands of years. Then there’s my mother herself, she lived for a couple of centuries So maybe not exactly ‘immortal’, but the world isn’t going to last forever. It’s going to end eventually. Maybe that could be a few centuries or a few thousand years, but it’s still going to end.” Skye tried to explained. “And leading the Inhumans until then means that me and Grant have to live a very long time.”

Lincoln looked at her blankly. Honestly, there was no way that Skye was making all of this up and it really didn’t seem that she had gone completely insane. So, there had to truly be something going on here. 

“Okay, so what if this is all real and you’re supposed to rebuild Afterlife or whatnot?” he asked. “What’s my part in it?”

“You stay here as the liaison between Afterlife and the Inhumans kept at SHIELD. You help get them ferried over to Afterlife. If we can get most of the Inhumans that are currently in SHIELD over there, it can be rebuilt in no time. And once you’re there, you can help with medical things and such.” Skye explained slowly, really hoping that Lincoln was okay with this.

“And what if Coulson retaliates?”

“You really think he’s going to fight back against an entire population of super-powered beings?” she asked. “He may have stupid ideas time to time, but he’s not that stupid. He may fight back at first, but he’s eventually going to back down. He’s not stupid enough to pit SHIELD against an Inhuman army.”

Lincoln gave Skye a smug smile, “You know what? I’ll do it. Only because I really don’t like Coulson after what happened with Hive and such. I see this as a big ‘fuck you’ to him.”

Skye smiled back, “Oh, thank you, Lincoln. You’re seriously doing such a big favor for us. No, not us, the Inhumans.”

“When do you plan on leaving?”   
“If everything goes well, tomorrow night. I’ve already have Joey and Elena going with us so we have some more company on the way there. Fitz is helping us get out.” she answered.

Lincoln nodded, “And how do you plan on getting there? You know Afterlife is in China, right? You can’t get there by car.”

“We’ll steal a quinjet.”

“That’s not exactly stealthy, you know. And I don’t think any of you know how to fly one.” Lincoln state firmly. “I honestly do think that you need to find another way to get to Afterlife.”

“It’s not like we can all get on an airplane, Lincoln. And besides, I wouldn’t trust Grant on an object a few thousand feet in the air completely surrounded by people he doesn’t know. He’ll freak and lose it.” Skye answered, shaking her head. “That won’t work. And a boat is way too slow. Besides, I didn’t say I would steal one from this base. There are other bases, even an airfield that wouldn’t be all that hard to get one from.”

“Yeah, but who’s gonna fly the damn thing? I know that Ward used to be a pilot, but he probably doesn’t remember how to handle a jet now.”

“Lincoln, you know me, I’ll end up finding a way. And May has shown me a few things. I could probably at least get the jet on autopilot for sure.” Skye said with a sly smirk. “It’s just a matter of how to rebuild Afterlife once we do get there.”

“If you have enough Inhumans, it wouldn’t be that hard of a task.” Lincoln commented, standing to his feet. “Especially if powers are put into play. But please, if you two are truly the ones to be leading us, don’t be like Jiayang. Let us leave if we want to. She didn’t want us mingling in with the rest of the world.”   
Skye blinked and nodded, “I won’t be as strict as her, Linc. Grant and I won’t be controlling. We just want a safe place for our kind to live is all. So I do have your help?”

“Ah, what the hell? Yes, I’ll help.” he answered. “It’s not like I have anything else to do anyways. And it’ll be nice to finally go back to Afterlife. SHIELD’s too chaotic for me.”

She smiled at him, “Thanks, Lincoln, you have no idea just how much this means to me.” she said. “You’re probably doing the most important part.”

“Just keep Ward away from me, will ya’?” Lincoln asked with a slight sneer as he walked out of the room. “I don’t want him stabbing me like he did that other guy.”

Skye held her breath and tried to hold in her anger. She hated Lincoln’s attitude towards Grant, but she really needed his help to get the Inhumans to Afterlife. At least he would be staying at SHIELD for a while before he came over. She could deal with that. It wasn’t about her and Grant, it was about the sake of the Inhuman race.

As she headed back to Grant’s containment room, she silently hoped that SHIELD wouldn’t screw this all up. 

She had a really bad feeling that they would somehow do so in the very end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, no Grant in this chapter, but Skye does have Lincoln's help in the plan to get the Inhumans over to Afterlife. That's good. But how will they keep SHIELD off of their backs as they do so? Keep the comments and kudos coming! (Maybe five or so comments?)


	23. And Don't Say Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye, Grant, and the others leave for Afterlife.

(A Few Days Later)

“Grant?” Skye called, shaking Grant gently awake. “Grant, sweetheart? We need to get up now, or this plan isn’t going to work at all.”

Grant eventually groaned and batted lightly at Skye with his hand, “Can’t it just wait another hour or so?” he mumbled sleepily. “I’m tired.”

Skye sighed, “Well, I’m tired too, but we have to do this now. We can’t risk waiting any longer to try and get out of here, someone may find us. Fitz, Joey, and Elena are supposed to meet us in the common room. We need to grab our stuff and go.” She ran a gentle hand down his arm, “It’s now or never.”

A deep yawn was heard from Grant and he moved towards Skye, burying his body into hers, “I guess this is it, isn’t it?” he asked quietly. “Our journey to Afterlife begins now.”

“Uh huh.” Skye breathed in agreement, her toes curling in pleasure as Grant’s lips brushed up against her cheek. “It’s gonna be a long one. And it’s gonna be even longer once we do get there. We have to rebuild, you know. And it’s only going to be us, Joey, and Elena for a while until Lincoln can send over some more.” she explained.

“I don’t care. Just as long as we’re away from here. I didn’t even ever like it here. No one but you and Fitz liked me. I felt like an outsider. It’s better to be somewhere where I’ll be accepted for who I am.” Grant mumbled, lazily kissing Skye’s neck. “And not be stared at like I have horns coming out of my head.”

Now, Skye couldn’t really say the true reason to why everyone looked at Grant like that. Everyone hated him because of who he was and not because of what he was. But he would never know that. He was meant to never remember his past self. It seemed as though his upcoming life in Afterlife was what he was truly supposed to remember. His past life had been a mistake, and his rebirth was his second chance to try and fix it all. Even if he didn’t really know that.

Skye slid out of the bed and away from Grant’s touch, much to Grant’s displeasure, “You’ll be fine in Afterlife, sweetheart. Everyone there will be an Inhuman. And besides, since you’ll be a leader beside me, they’ll more than likely look up to you more than anything.” she explained, reaching under their bed for the two bags of clothes and toiletries they had packed to take with them. “And being able to shoot fire out of your hands isn’t going to be the weirdest thing there, trust me.”

Grant let out a small chuckle and rose out of the bed as well, “I like the sounds of that. I’d rather be revered than hated.” he said lightly. He came around the bed towards Skye, “Praise sounds nice.”

“Don’t let that go to your head. You already have a bit of an ego sometimes. I don’t want it getting worse.” Skye chided, trying to slip normal clothes on in the dark. They couldn’t have the lights on, it could possibly tip someone unwanted off.

“I know that you still love me though, right?” Grant asked, trying to put his clothes on as well. “And my ego isn’t _that_ bad, is it?”

“Sometimes it is. Only when someone does end up praising you for something that you did.” Skye answered, putting the last of her clothes on and grabbing her bag. “But it’s not all that bad, just a little annoying here and there.”

Grant snorted as he was still putting his own clothes on, “I know that you don’t find me all that annoying, Skye. I know that you absolutely love me.” he teased. He slipped on his shirt and walked over to her, “I wouldn’t be annoying to you.”

“You’re kind of being annoying right now because we’re on a tight timeframe here.” Skye huffed, lightly hitting him with her bag. “Now, hurry up and stop talking, will you?”

“Fine.” Grant sighed, bending down to put on his shoes. “Just trying to lighten the mood here. Truth is I’m beyond scared about this, so I’m just trying my best to distract myself.” he began, lacing up his boots. “I’m afraid of what will happen. What will Coulson do if he catches us? What happens if we can’t rebuild Afterlife? What if no Inhuman likes us leading them?”

Skye knew that this was all Grant’s anxiety and paranoia talking. Yes, she was scared too, but she just had to see what would happen first. “Grant, look, it’s okay to be afraid. I’m scared too. But worrying like that isn’t going to get us anywhere at all.” she reassured him. “Let’s just see what happens first before we start worrying like this, alright?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Grant huffed, grabbing his own bag. “I can’t help but to worry, Skye. I guess it’s just in my nature, is all.”

“We’ll be fine, I promise.” Skye stated, kissing his cheek. “Now, come on, I bet that everyone else is waiting on us. Let’s get going.”

And with that, the two silently left the room cold and empty. No one would ever be coming back to that room. They made their way carefully down the hallways towards the common room, hoping that no one else was up at this time of night. It was like two in the morning, so they should be good.

They found the others waiting for them once they got into the common room. And the three looked pretty irritated with them. Probably because they had to wait.

“What took you guys so long?” Joey asked, crossing his arms. “We’ve been waiting for twenty minutes.”

Skye pointed over towards Grant, “Flamethrower there wouldn’t stop talking.” she stated. “Had to shut him up.”

Grant shot Skye a glare and rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything in response to her quip.

Joey nodded slowly and narrowed his eyes, “So, are we going?” he asked. “I don’t want to wait all freakin’ night here.”

“Well, I guess if you guys are ready.” Skye stated. She looked towards Elena, “You ready?”

Elena nodded, “I guess. Not sure what to expect.” she replied simply.

Skye took a breath and casted her gaze towards Fitz, “You’ve got everything together to get us out of here?” she questioned. “We need to make it quick and clean.”

Fitz nodded as well, “I managed to take that program you gave me and coded it to the security systems. Once I activate it, it should create a complete surveillance blackout for about five minutes before other systems try to bring it back online. Alarms won’t sound. Cameras won’t be recording either. But you have five minutes to get to a car and get the hell out of here.”

That took Skye aback just a bit. Only five minutes? That was kind of pressing, but she was sure that they could do it. “Okay, fine. Just come to the hangar door with us and activate it there.” she stated. “We’ve gotta make this quick.”

“Alright, I can do just that. I just got to get back soon before Jemma wakes up and sees that I’m not in the room. We don’t want her finding out.”

Skye looked to the Inhumans in the room, “Alright, guys, this is it. Once we do leave, we can’t come back. You sure that you wanna do this?” she asked.

They all nodded, and Elena ended up answering for everyone. “Like I have said before: Screw SHIELD. I have never liked it here and I never will. It is better to leave.”

“Well, I guess that does answer it then, we’re leaving.” Skye stated. And with that, she led them all to the hangar door, where of which she stopped and turned to face Fitz.

“Fitz, I kind of feel bad for leaving you. And Mack as well. Okay, maybe everyone, but it’s still not a good thing for us to be staying here.” she began, looking at the young engineer. “And we do have to do this.”

“Well, if you can find a way, try to keep in touch. I imagine that we can once things settle down and Coulson can eventually understand to why you fled to Afterlife.” Fitz answered. “Well, I hope that he can understand. If you don’t like it here, you don’t like it here. He shouldn’t force you to stay.”

Skye smiled, “Thank you, Fitz. Honestly, you helping does mean a whole lot. And…. And I will miss you.” She walked over and threw her arms around the agent, “But I will try to keep in touch somehow.”

Fitz pulled back and smiled, “I’ll miss you too, Skye.” He looked towards everyone else, “And you guys as well. Take care.”

Everyone else smiled at him and nodded, especially Grant. Fitz had been the only other friend he had made in this new life, so he was upset that they were leaving him behind. But it was still for the best.

Fitz looked back to Skye, “You ready? Once I activate the program, you need to get the hell out of here before it reboots.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Well, I guess this is bye.” Fitz said, activating the program on his tablet and watching as the hangar door came open.

“Bye, Fitz. We’ll miss you.”

And with that, they were gone from Fitz’s vision. Gone to start a new life.

And they would never look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you have that! They're off to Afterlife to try and rebuild. It's now just a matter of if they can rebuild and if Coulson ends up leaving them alone. So what will happen now? Keep the comments and kudos coming! (Please drop a comment, I'd still like to know what you think!)


	24. I Stare Into the Blackness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye and Grant talk on their drive.

_ “You know, I don’t see why they gave you another chance at all. You were never worth it. There was always darkness within your heart. There still is. I should know about this darkness since I spent months inside of you, controlling you. It’s truly a shame that you don’t remember that time at all. _

_ I remember your screams as your consciousness cried out for salvation. Did you really think they were going to save you after all that you have done? It took you completely forgetting who you are and what you've done for them to at least let you stay. _

_ Running away isn't going to get you anywhere. They'll come. They'll lock you up again. And they won't let you run again. You’ll either be put down like the monster you truly are, or you’ll just be caged like a poor animal for the rest of your life. Which in your case will be for eternity.  _

_ Immortality isn’t the greatest thing in the world. I’ve scrounged by for centuries on that barren planet once my great civilization fell to the ground. You outlive everyone else, you see everything fall around you. You’ll become nothing but a nameless god in the remnants of a society long forgotten.  _

_ That’s what I was. Everything I knew, all that worshipped me, is gone. I had nothing. And soon, you’ll be the same as me. No, you’re already the same as me. You just don’t realize it because you can’t remember me at all. There’s a reason to why you made such a great host, it’s because we’re not that different.  _

_ Underneath your skin, underneath what you can’t remember is a creature of violence. One born only to raze and slaughter. Fire doesn’t build things, it only destroys. And once you do remember what you were, the truth will warp you into a god of destruction. You won’t be remembered as the Inhuman god that made the race thrive, you’ll be remembered as the Inhuman god that destroyed the race.  _

_ You weren’t meant to be a hero, you’ll always be the villain damned to a vile end. There’s no twisting that any other way. You may be worshipped as some kind of god in a matter of time, but you’ll still lead them to a miserable end….” _

* * *

 

Grant woke with a start, the remnants of the nightmare lingering on the edges of his mind. His mind couldn’t begin to comprehend what the invisible figure, even though it oddly sounded like himself, had said to him. So it just started to fade away, just like all of his other nightmares. But for some reason, it had left him in a faint chill, like he knew whatever the hell that had been meant bad things for him in the end.

He shook himself out of his daze and just began to remember that he was in the passenger’s seat of the car that Skye had ‘borrowed’ from SHIELD. Blinking, he looked over to see Skye silently driving the car. It was still dark out, so Grant assumed that he hadn’t been asleep long. A quick glance at the clock on the dash told him that it was just a little bit after three in the morning; they had only been going for two hours now. 

And Grant wasn’t quite sure to where they were really going. Afterlife was all the way in China, and there was no way they could get there by car. Skye had said that she did have a plan, but wouldn’t tell him to what it was. She didn’t even tell Joey and Elena, whom of which were fast asleep in the backseat of the car. 

“Skye?” Grant quietly asked, watching as she straightened up and quickly looked over towards him. She gave him a warm smile and he smiled back. 

“Did you sleep well?” she asked back. “You didn’t sleep very long.”

Grant shrugged, “Not really. Bad dream again. And before you can ask, I don’t remember what it was about at all.” he stated. He casted a glance towards the road, “And when are you going to tell me where we’re going? I don’t like not knowing.”

Skye sighed and shook her head, “I’ve got to find us someway to get us overseas quickly. I was hoping that an old friend would help us. Old hacker buddy that happens to own a small airfield. He’s a few hours from here, but it will be worth it if he does help.” she explained.

“How are you going to explain this to him?” Grant questioned. “You can’t exactly tell him the truth.”

“I’ll say that we’re on the run from SHIELD. He hates SHIELD, so I’m imagining that he’ll be willing to help.” she answered. “He’s also a pilot, so he could probably fly us there. And once we’re there, I’ll contact Lincoln to tell him that we are actually there. Then we’ll work on getting other Inhumans to Afterlife to help rebuild.”

Grant nodded, “Okay, that sounds fine.” He paused for a bit and looked back towards Skye, “Do you want me to drive for a while?” he asked. “You’ve been driving ever since we left. Do you want a break?”

She shook her head, “It’s only been two hours, I’m fine.” she commented, reaching over with one hand and placing it on Grant’s hand that rested on the console. “I’ll drive until the sun comes up, then we’ll find somewhere to grab a bite to eat. You can drive afterwards. I just want to put enough distance between us and SHIELD as I can. I did disable the car’s tracker, so that should help. And they probably haven’t realized that we’re gone just yet. It’s still early.”

Grant took Skye’s hand and lightly ran his thumb over the skin of her soft palm, “Do you really think that this will all work out in the end?” he asked hesitantly. “This is such a big job. What if we can’t get enough Inhumans over? What if SHIELD finds us?”

“You worry too much, Grant.” Skye joked. She truly sometimes missed the days of the Grant that didn’t worry at all and that was prepared for everything. But that Grant had been the traitor, the man that had ruined everything. She now didn’t care that he was paranoid, she just didn’t want the traitor back at all.

“Let’s just see what happens first before we start to worry. Yes, it’s scary, but we can’t worry our way through everything, alright?” she continued. 

“Fine.” Grant breathed, continuing to play with Skye’s hand. “As long as we can get out of the States soon. I don’t like the idea of SHIELD potentially chasing us. Wait, does this actually make us fugitives now?”

“Well, pretty much.” Skye admitted lightly. “We’re running away from an authority figure, whom of which will more than likely hunt us down. Hell, I just hope that Fitz and Lincoln can try to explain things to Coulson before he goes berserk. I don’t want all of this ruined all because Coulson wants to see you in a cage for the rest of your life.”

“I still don’t understand to why he locked me up the way he did.” Grant stated, looking out the window at the passing darkness. “I mean, I do know that he thinks that I’m extremely dangerous and unstable, but he completely turned on me like I had some kind of disease.”

Still, Skye couldn’t tell him the truth to why Coulson was acting the way he was. She could never tell him. The only way Grant would ever know was if he actually able to begin to remember everything that he had lost. But there was no telling to if that would actually happen or not.

“Well, I don’t know.” she lightly said. “Perhaps Coulson thought that you were breaking down or something because of your issues. SHIELD’s got a policy of containing dangerous gifteds that are a major threat. I guess that’s what Coulson saw you as once you flipped out and killed that guy.”

“Do you think I’m dangerous?”

Skye was slightly taken aback by Grant’s question. She had to think for a good, solid minute before she answered. “To be honest, I think your powers are dangerous, but you yourself are not dangerous, Grant. Hell, my powers are dangerous too. We can’t help what our powers are. They’re just a part of us. And you can’t help that you’re sick. SHIELD was a bad environment for you to be in. Hopefully getting out of there will help alleviate things for you.”

Grant nodded once more and sighed, “I just hope that you’re right. I’m tired of all of this shit. I just want to be happy for once.” he admitted. “I’m tired of suffering.”

She lightly squeezed his hand for reassurance, “I imagine that you’ll be fine, Grant. Once everything falls into place, you’ll get better.”

He stared back out the window into the darkness, and it felt as though the darkness was staring straight back at him. But he didn’t know why.

“I really hope that you’re right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for such the long wait. I started college this week and had orientation all last weekend, so I've had no time to stop and write. And I'm trying to get all three of my fics updated this weekend so college doesn't get in the way again. But I do hope you did like this chapter. Keep the comments and kudos coming! (And any guesses to who was talking in the dream?)


	25. I See Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye and Grant talk once they're away from SHIELD.

(Sometime Later in the Day)

Skye had stopped the car in a small town some time ago for them to rest. She had gotten a good couple hundred miles between them and SHIELD. So she hoped that they were good enough for them to rest overnight and then start off again the next morning. Everyone was already in dire need of rest.

Once they had all gotten motel rooms under aliases, Joey and Elena had retreated off to their own rooms. Grant stayed with Skye to help her with a few things before they had headed to their room. And Skye knew that Grant needed proper rest before he collapsed from exhaustion. The thing about his powers was that they drained a whole lot of energy, even if he wasn’t using them at all. Ever since they had formed, his metabolism had skyrocketed. He had to eat a lot and sleep a lot in order to keep up with that energy loss.

When they had gotten to their room, Grant had made a beeline for the shower. Skye knew that he was already getting ready for bed, even though it was like four in the afternoon. He hadn’t slept much in the car, so that was catching up to him. And the last thing Skye needed was an irritable Grant or one that ended up passing out.

Skye looked up from her laptop as the bathroom door opened to reveal Grant in just his pants. Water still gleamed on his bare chest and his hair stuck to his forehead in wet clumps. He made his way over to her and peered at the computer screen.

“We haven’t even been gone for SHIELD for a full day and you’re already on your laptop?” Grant chuckled, kissing the top of her head.

“I’m just making sure that some of our tracks are covered.” Skye answered, looking up at him and smiling. “I made sure that Fitz deleted the video feeds of us leaving. I don’t want anything showing that he helped us out. He doesn’t deserve to get in trouble.”

“He’s a good man.” Grant commented, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “He risked a lot to get us out. But I still don’t understand why Coulson treated me like that. I understand that I did kill someone, but I can hardly remember doing so. He acted like I was some kind of killer or something.”

 _“Oh, if you only knew the truth, Grant._ ” Skye thought, not looking back towards Grant. _“Coulson acted that way because he thought you were reverting back to your old ways. He overreacted. That’s a fact. But, that’s a legitimate fear. I don’t know if your old self will ever come back. That was a monster that I don’t want to ever see again.”_

Skye feigned a smile and looked at Grant, “You’re not a killer, Grant. Coulson has a certain, well, paranoia when it comes to gifteds. There are so many regulations, he’s afraid of what happens when a gifted does go berserk.” she lied. “He locked you up before anything else could happen. I know that you wouldn’t of had done anything else, but Coulson was still afraid.”

Grant sighed and ran his hands through his hair, deciding to move on from the subject, “Do you think that they’ve figured out we’re gone yet?” he asked. “I know it’s been over twelve hours since we left, so they have at least realized that we’ve been absent.”

“They probably have. I just don’t want to check their systems just in case they’re monitoring for any weird activity. They know me. They know that I may possibly hack into SHIELD systems.” Skye answered with a shrug. “I think we’ve got enough distance between us and them for us to be able to rest until tomorrow morning. But we’ll need to leave first thing just to be safe. It’s enough time for you to get rested up.”

Grant nodded, “I guess that that sounds good.” he commented. “I am tired and that car ride wasn’t the best time to go to sleep.”

Skye smiled wholeheartedly at him, “Then go ahead and go to sleep, sweetheart.” she stated, standing up and placing her laptop on a nearby table. “I know you. You’ll end up sleeping until four in the morning. I don’t mind if you go to bed now. We ate a pretty big lunch, so I don’t think it matters if we have dinner or not.”

“As long as you lay down with me for a while. I’ve got too much on my mind and I think that you’ll help ease the load.” Grant stated with a charming smile. The very same charming smile that he used when he wanted Skye to do something with him. And it worked every single time.

“Fine.” Skye huffed. “I’ve got some things to do, but I suppose an hour or so nap wouldn’t hurt.” She walked over and poked him in the chest, “But, please, dry off first. I’m not getting into bed with you if you’re still soaking wet.”

Grant rolled his eyes at her and stood up, heading back towards the small bathroom to grab his towel and dry his torso off. He came back out to find Skye in just her underwear, “Are we just sleeping in our underwear?” he asked playfully. “’Cause that’s not all that bad of an idea.”

Skye shot him a look, “I’m just grabbing more comfortable clothes, Grant. What I was wearing wasn’t exactly very comfortable to be sleeping in.” she retorted. She tried to ignore the lust-filled light that had started to shine in Grant’s eyes. Grabbing a loose t-shit that did used to belong to Grant and a pair of sweatpants, she sighed and looked back towards Grant, “It’ll be so much better when we actually have a home to call our own. I think my mom pretty much had her own building. So if it’s still standing, we can take that.”

“As long as there is a bed big enough for the both of us, I’ll be completely happy with that.” Grant commented, going over to the bed and pulling back the covers. “Well, to be honest, I’ll be happy no matter what since you’re there.”

“Now you’re just getting sappy.” Skye teased, pulling the t-shirt over her head. “But I’ll make sure that we get a good bed there. I’m gonna have to try to update Afterlife a bit and bring it to modern times too. I’ve got to have my technology there.”

Grant snorted as he slipped into the bed, “You’re addicted to technology, Skye. That’s not a good thing at all.” he stated.

“I’m a computer hacker, Grant, of course I’m going to be addicted to technology.” Skye practically shot back as she slipped into the bed as well, moving over to Grant’s side. “And when other Inhumans start coming, they’re going to want technology as well.”

“Whatever you say.” Grant mumbled, wrapping an arm around Skye’s torso and drawing her close. He buried his face into the crook of her neck, “All I really need is you.” he whispered. “Nothing else makes me happy like you do.”

“Damn, why are you so sappy today, Grant?” Skye laughed, her toes curling as Grant’s beard tickled a sensitive spot on her neck. “I love you too, you goofball.”

Grant laughed in response and peppered her neck with light kisses, “I hope things stay this good once we’re at Afterlife.” he commented. “I don’t want this to ever end. I don’t want to lose anything. I don’t want to lose you.”

“Grant, I assure you everything will be fine once Afterlife is back up and running. SHIELD can’t do anything when there’s a practical army of Inhumans living in one area. They wouldn’t touch us then.”

“Good.” Grant huffed. “I don’t want them touching us again.”

“I promise you, we’re safe now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that it's been like a month since I last updated. College got in the way. But I'm trying to keep it coming at a decent rate now. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	26. Quiet Like the Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group gets closer to leaving the country.

(A Day Later)

            Grant watched the trees as the car zipped down the pretty much empty highway. He honestly had no idea to where they were, he just knew that Skye was taking them to the airfield that her old friend owned. She had apparently gotten in touch with him yesterday and had asked about taking them to Afterlife. The guy had said yes and just like that, Skye was getting them all ready to drive a couple hundred miles to the airfield a state or two over. Grant never knew what state they were in

            He was starting to feel cramped within the small space of the car. It wasn’t the best place for a man of his size to be in for long periods of time; it especially didn’t help that Joey was right behind him, so Grant couldn’t move his seat back at all. To be honest, Grant just wanted out of the country, far from the reaches of SHIELD. He wanted to be somewhere safe, somewhere where he lived alongside his own people that wouldn’t ridicule or fear him.

            Well, it truly wasn’t living alongside the Inhuman race since he would be practically ruling over them along with Skye. Now, Skye didn’t want to come off to the Inhuman race as the monarchs of the race, she felt as though that would send a negative vibe to everyone else. Skye just wanted herself and Grant to come off as more or less the advisors of the Inhumans, not the queen and king. But through and through, they would truly be the queen and king.

            Grant casted a glance over towards Skye, studying the concentration that had long settled itself upon her face. Her sole thought was getting them out of the country. And if they could get to the airfield soon, they could be on their way in a matter of no time. Grant was surprised to how fast she had dropped everything to try and get them all out. But, truly, Skye really hadn’t been a part of SHIELD since Grant had come back not too long ago.

            A few minutes of silence passed before Grant spoke up, keeping his eyes on the passing trees, “How much longer until we’re there?” he asked, tracing a calloused finger down the passenger-side window. “I don’t like being cramped up like this. You should know this, Skye.”

            He could hear Skye sigh before she responded, something that roused a slight laugh out of Joey in the backseat. “Yes, Grant, I know that you don’t like being cramped up. But you’re gonna have to deal with it until we get to Afterlife. I imagine that whatever plane my guy is going to fly us there in isn’t going to be all that big. But we’ll have plenty of space once we do get to Afterlife.”

            Grant groaned, “You could’ve chosen a bigger car, you know.” he commented. “You know, something that could’ve accommodated me.”

            “Grant, sweetheart, we only had five minutes to get the hell out of that base, I didn’t have time to think of finding a car that accommodated your size. And besides, Mack’s bigger than you. You weren’t the biggest guy on the base.” Skye started to explain. “Just be glad that I was able to get us away from the base.”

            “Can we at least stop somewhere where I can stretch my legs?”

            “No, we don’t have the time to do something as trivial as that.”

            “How about we stop bickering and we hurry up and get to that airfield?” Joey cut in, cutting their conversation short. He casted a quick glance towards Elena, whom of which was smiling at him, “I know that couples sometimes bicker about senseless things, but I really don’t think that now’s the time for something like that.”

            Skye mumbled under her breath, “Look, we’ll be there shortly. Give it about a half hour or so. I know where the hell we’re going.” she stated. “Just hold your horses for God’s sakes.”

            With that, the car plunged into silence again, no one really knowing of what to say to one another. After a while, one question did start to itch at the back of Grant’s mind, and he did end up asking it out loud.

            “Do you think that SHIELD knows that we’re gone yet?” he asked, eyes still locked onto the trees passing by.

            “It’s been about a day and a half since we left, so of course they know that we’re gone.” Skye answered briskly. “It’s only a matter of what they’re doing about it. I know that there’s no way that they’ve tracked us down. I disabled all of the car’s trackers a long time ago. As far as they know, we’re already out of the country by now.”

            “Do you think that they’ll eventually figure out where we’re going?”

            “More than likely. Even though I never told anyone other than Fitz and Lincoln about the prophecy and stuff, they’ll somehow figure it out. I’m not sure to whether or not it’ll be a secret for long, but hopefully by the time it does come out we’ll already have Afterlife up and running somewhat. That’ll definitely help when it comes to fighting back if we have to. Coulson won’t dare touch an entire community of Inhumans.” Skye explained.

            Grant nodded, still keeping his gaze outside of the window, “I hope it goes that way.” he mumbled, feeling his mind starting to grow fuzzy. It got this way when he was tired. Everything was still jumbled up inside of his brain, which practically made a miniature hell inside of his head. He never told Skye that, he didn’t want her worrying about him. Especially now.

            Skye didn’t know this, but Grant hadn’t been sleeping much lately. His nightmares had really started to plague him the past week. And he could never make heads nor tails of them. They seemed to be chopped-up memories, but he could never tell. Honestly, he just wanted them to go away and leave him alone. They left him crying in Skye’s arms, even though she was still asleep.

            Grant hoped that Afterlife would be the cure to all of his problems. He hoped that once he was away from everything that plagued him, he would start to get better. Honestly, he was just so damn tired of suffering. He still had no idea to who he really was. All he knew was that he was Grant Ward the nobody, the pyrokinetic Inhuman with a broken mind. He still wanted to find out who he once was, but there was a part of him that knew that he wouldn’t like what the truth entailed at all.

            He just wanted to be somewhere where he wasn’t hated and he was accepted for who he was. He knew that in Afterlife there would be Inhumans from all walks of life, so he would be the farthest from the strangest there. Yes, there probably wouldn’t be another amnesiac like himself, but the thought still made him feel just a little better.

            There was this hope dwelling within Grant that he could become better, that he would eventually be as normal as an Inhuman could be. But there was that daunting laugh deep within his head that claimed that he would always be sick, that he would fail at being a leader and he would burn everything he touched. Grant tried to ignore it, but he couldn’t. He just had to live with the voices inside of his head.

            Why couldn’t things just be quiet for once?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm so, so sorry for the wait, but college really got to me. It's been hard trying to update my three fics. I would've written more for this chapter tonight, but my bad wrist is really starting to hurt. But the next chapter will be SHIELD's reaction to them leaving and the group leaving the country. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	27. High into the Skye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group finally leaves the country.

(Sometime Later)

Grant eyed the rundown airfield as he, Skye, and the others stepped out of the car, “You sure that this guy still runs this place?” he asked. “This place is a complete dump.”

“I called him the other day to make sure. He just doesn’t get a whole lot of customers or something. And it doesn’t help that he’s basically a black market pilot.” Skye began to explain, heading towards the trunk of the car to grab her bag. “Criminals and such go to him when they want out of the country. So that’s the only money he gets. That’s why the place isn’t very fancy, but he does have a nice plane.”

“And you know him how?” Joey asked, taking his bag. “Last time I checked, you weren’t a criminal. Well, any SHIELD agent is technically working under the law, but still.”

“He used to be a Rising Tide hacker back when I was one. He still does some hacking, but his sole business is transportation.” Skye answered, handing a bag to Grant. “Let’s just say that he owes me a favor or two.”

“Yeah, I don’t even want to know where those favors came from.” Grant stated, an eyebrow raised. “All of this just seems off to me, but just blame my paranoia for that. Let’s go ahead and try to get out of here, I don’t want SHIELD catching up to us.”

Elena casted a quick glance at the airfield, “How long will it take?” she asked. “It will be no good for it to take a long time.”

“At least several hours.” Skye replied, shutting the car’s trunk. “I mean, Afterlife is in China and we’re currently in the Eastern US. So it’ll take a good while. But hopefully we do have enough distance between us and SHIELD. So I think we’re good for a while. But they’ll figure out sooner or later to where we went.”

“Then let’s get going.” Grant deadpanned, taking the lead. “I don’t want Coulson finding me. I don’t know what his fucking deal is, but I don’t want him finding me. I don’t want him near me at all after how he treated me. I can’t help what happened.”

Skye bit her lip and shook her head as she and the others followed Grant,  _ “Grant, I kind of wish you knew the truth to why Coulson acted like that. But I don’t want to be the one to tell you and I have no idea to whether or not you’ll ever remember your past life on your own. Well, your feelings towards Coulson are heading back to the way they were before he killed you. I don’t think that that’ll ever change. I wouldn’t be surprised if you went for his head the next time he shows his face.” _

She watched as Grant practically stomped towards the main area of the airfield. She could tell when he was getting angry, and now was one of those times. Grant now tended to get angry for no reason. Every single little issue he had had given him one hell of a temper and he lost it at the smallest of things. He never got angry towards Skye, but it still scared her. It was a good thing that she was getting him away from SHIELD. Somewhere like Afterlife would hopefully work to tame that rage of his. 

Skye increased her pace so she could be beside him when they got to the main area. She didn’t want him to be the one that first met their guy. For all she knew, Grant would just scare him off and then they wouldn’t be able to fly out. 

“Grant, sweetheart, I don’t know why you’re so upset.” she began. “We’re almost there. We’ll be in Afterlife by tomorrow at the latest. You need to take a breather or something.”

“I’m  _ not  _ upset.” Grant stressed, clenching a fist at his side. “But I am scared that if we don’t hurry up, then the next thing I’ll be seeing is some kind of containment cell again. I don’t want that happening.”

“Grant, they’re not going to get us. And hopefully once they do find out where we’ve gone, there will be a decent sized population of Inhumans at Afterlife and then Coulson won’t dare to bother us then.”

“Well, I hope that you’re completely in the right with that.”

The group made their way into the main area of airfield, stopping when they saw a man coming towards them. Skye waved at him and they walked until they met the man.

“Jackson?” she questioned.

He smiled, “Long time, no see, Skye.” he replied. “Didn’t think the next time I’d see you would be you running away from SHIELD, even though the notion isn’t all that surprising. I hope that you’re all ready to go, because it’s probably best that we go ahead and leave. You do have the coordinates for whatever this place is you want to go to, right?”

Skye nodded, even though Jackson couldn’t see her since he had already begun to lead them to where he kept his plane. “Yeah, I do. And I can’t thank you enough for doing this. We had no other way to get out of the country.”

“Don’t mention it. And again, this is a favor for you, remember? I just hope that doing this won’t get SHIELD after me. I don’t want that happening.”

“Trust me, Jackson, they won’t ever know that it was you that helped us.” Skye reassured him as they approached the small plane. “All you have to do is drop us off at the location and then you can be on your way.”

“I hope so.” Jackson stated. He stopped right outside the plane, “I already have it all gassed up and ready to go, so all y’all have to do is put your bags in and then take a seat.” He stepped inside the plane and sat down in the cockpit, “So hurry up.”

“He’s real charming.” Grant whispered as he and Skye climbed up into the plane.

Skye elbowed him, “Shut it. He just can be a little blunt sometimes, that’s all.” she whispered back. She took the seat right next to Grant as Joey and Elena sat down across from them. “Just deal with him the next several hours and then you won’t have to see him again, alright?”

“Whatever.”

“Y’all ready back there?” Jackson shouted as the plane roared to life.”I’m ‘bout to get this damn thing going!”

“Yeah, we’re good!” Skye yelled back. “Get it going!”

“Alright, y’all better say goodbye to good ol’ American soil!” he yelled as the plane lurched forward. 

Skye rolled her eyes and reached for Grant’s hand, “This is it, we’re finally heading towards Afterlife.” she stated.

“It better be as good as you make it out to be.” Elena commented. “I do not want it to be a disappointment.”

“Truly, it won’t be all that much for a while, mainly because it did get partially destroyed in a SHIELD attack.” Skye admitted. “But it won’t take long to rebuild it once we do get a decent amount of Inhumans there.”

“Then hopefully that will not be long.”

“Hopefully it won’t be a very long time, if Lincoln does his job right. SHIELD gets in new Inhuman intakes everyday. So it won’t be hard to get a fair sized number.”

“Skye, how is Lincoln going to transport the Inhumans all the way from SHIELD to Afterlife?” Grant asked, squeezing her hand. “He can’t exactly fly them.”

“We’ll figure that out once we get ourselves settled, okay?”

“Okay.”

“But at least we’re finally getting out of the country and away from SHIELD.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the wait! I blame laziness mainly. I meant to update this past week, but I ended up playing Titanfall 2 and Gears of War 4 a little too much instead. But hopefully I can manage to regularly update this now; it shouldn't take all that much longer to finish this up! And SHIELD's reaction will definitely be in the next chapter! Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	28. Rays of the Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group finally arrives at Afterlife.

(Several Hours Later)

The group walked into the main area of Afterlife, stopping to take in the sights around them. Grant dropped his bags and frowned as he surveyed his surroundings. He turned back to Skye with a cold, hard stare. 

“This place is a dump.”

Skye sighed and rolled her eyes, “That’s because it hasn’t been inhabited in over a year, Grant.” she answered. “When the fake SHIELD attacked and my mother died, the inhabitants that were here left for safer places. I think they thought that Afterlife was no longer safe since SHIELD knew where it was at. 

It just needs some work and updating.” she continued. “It needs to be brought into the modern age, that’s all. Once we can get a formidable population here, it won’t take long for it to be brought back to life.”

Joey snorted and looked around, “It needs about all the help it can get. If it’s only been abandoned a year, why does it look so bad?” he asked. “I understand that some of it was destroyed in that attack, but it looks like it’s been abandoned for years.”

“Afterlife has been standing for centuries, but it’s always had Inhumans taking care of it. Now that no one’s been taking care of it for the past year, it’s fallen into disarray.” Skye bit her lip and looked around. While it was true that the village needed a hell of a lot of work, she believed that they could get it back to its former glory in a matter of no time. They just needed to get themselves settled in and then needed to start funneling Inhumans over from SHIELD. She estimated about a year before Afterlife would be back in a fully-working order. 

She nodded to herself and looked back at the group, “Come on, let’s go see if the main houses are still in good shape.” She looked over to Grant , “You and I will take the house my mother used. I think she mainly used her office, but there should be a good-sized bedroom. And I think each bigger house can hold up to ten Inhumans, maybe more. Each has their own kitchen, separate bedrooms that each have their own bathroom. Hopefully we’ll be able to build more living areas as more and more Inhumans come in.”

“And you think that they will want to come?” Elena asked as they all picked their bags back up and headed towards the main houses. “This would be a big change for them.”

“I hope they will. Afterlife is a safe place for the Inhumans to live it peace. We’re not promoting the isolation that my mother adored so much. They’ll be able to come and go as they please.” Skye tried to explain. “Even though this is a haven for the Inhumans, humans and Inhumans need to live in peace.”

Joey nodded, “Well, I don’t know when that will ever happen. There’s always some kind of prejudice that humans hold. Whether that be race, gender, or who one loves.” He sighed, “And it’s probably worse with the Inhumans right now. I don’t think there will be peace for a long time now. That’s why we need places like this.”

“Unfortunately, that is right.” Skye agreed, stopping right outside the main houses. “So hopefully we won’t have any troubles here and the race can thrive like it needs to.”

“I hope that we can thrive in the modern age.” he continued, looking dead at the houses. “Because this place doesn’t look like it even has electricity”

“Oh, it has electricity, it probably has to be powered on.”

“What about cable?”

“I don’t know.”

“Wi-Fi?”

Grant snorted suddenly, “You better hope it has Wi-Fi.” he stated with a laugh. “‘Cause Skye can’t last five minutes without that laptop of hers.”

Skye elbowed Grant in the side, “Shut it.” she growled. “Even if it doesn’t have Wi-Fi, it can’t be that hard to get it rigged-up. Well, I hope.”

“It better.”

She sighed, “Well, you two go look in that house and see how it is.” she stated, looking at Joey and Elena. “Maybe find some way to turn the water and the power back on if it’s not running. Like I said, Grant and I will take my mother’s old house. At least it’s smaller than the others, so at least it’s fair.”

Both Joey and Elena nodded and they took their bags and went into the bigger house, leaving Skye and Grant to themselves.

“Skye, is there even any food or supplies here?” Grant asked, looking at the small house in which they would be staying. “If no one’s been here in a year, there’s no way that there’s any good food here.”

“I think there’s a food storage somewhere.” Skye answered as they went into the house. “Hopefully some of that will be good for the four of us. But you’re right, there needs to be food and supplies. We can’t have more Inhumans coming here if there’s nothing to feed them with.”

“And where’s the nearest town? And we’re in China, it’s not like we can go to the nearest Walmart or anything.”

“The nearest town is like fifty or so miles from here.”

“Great.”

“Lighten up, Grant. We’ll find someway to get everything that we need. I’ll contact Lincoln later to tell him that we’re here. Maybe he’ll know of a way to get us the supplies we need. And it’s not like we can contact SHIELD for help. Maybe they can help us eventually, but not anytime soon. So Lincoln’s our best bet.”

“I hope he can find something.” Grant grumbled as he threw his bags to the ground. “I don’t like him very much, so I’m not putting a lot of faith in him.”

“I don’t like him either after how he treated you, but he’s the only person that we can trust to help us right now.”

Grant frowned, “Couldn’t Fitz or Mack help us as well?” he asked. “I mean, they did help us get out of SHIELD, couldn’t they do a few other things?”

Skye shrugged, dropping her bag and wrapping an arm around Grant’s stomach, “I could possibly contact Mack and see what he could do, but I don’t know. I’ll just have to see what Lincoln could do first. Anyways, we need to get settled in here first.”

“At least this place isn’t that bad.” Grant commented, his eyes sweeping the small living room. “Could use a good dusting, but it’s not as bad as I thought that it would be. It’s just your normal living room. Couch, chairs, tables, various knicknacks. But no TV.”

“My mother probably took really good care of this place. Maybe it’s just the outside that looks rundown, but that wouldn’t be hard to fix. And we’ll see about the TV later on.” Skye reached up and kissed him on his bearded cheek. “Let’s go see how the bedroom is. That’s probably the one thing that you care about the most, right?”

Grant blushed and ducked his head, “As long as it’s clean.” he mumbled. “No good to have a dirty bed.”

“Well, I’m sure that there are some clean sheets around here somewhere, germaphobe.” Skye snickered, running her hand up the back of Grant’s shirt. She moaned in pleasure as the spark between them reignited as her fingers brushed the small of Grant’s back. “I’ll see what I can find.”

The two headed into the bedroom, finding nothing but a large bed and a dresser. “Your mother wasn’t big on possessions was she?” Grant asked, examining the room. 

“She lived for hundreds of years, Grant, she probably didn’t care about earthly possessions.”

“I hope that we don’t get like that. I still like to have things. I like books. I’d like to see some kind of game system hooked up to a huge TV in that living room.” he explained, drawing her close. “I like to have  _ fun _ .”

“I feel like there’s a double meaning in there somewhere.” she answered, fingers brushing at the skin of his back again. “Which I like, but we need to clean this place up first before we do anything. Looks like my mother has this place well-stocked, so it won’t be hard to change things around and clean. Then we need to go check on Joey and Elena.”

Grant nodded, “Then bed?” he asked, an eyebrow raised. 

“Yes, then bed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm so, so sorry that it took me forever on this! I kind of got preoccupied with my other stories then I had writer's block with this for a while. But, hopefully, I can try to keep this updated. It really won't take long to finish this up. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	29. Nobody Hears Me, I Suffer the Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things comes to light when Grant's left alone.

(The Next Morning)

“So,” Grant began, turning to look at Skye as he came out of the bathroom. “What are you planning on doing today?” He tugged at the towel that was wrapped around his waist.

Skye shrugged, “I assume that I probably need to go ahead and call Lincoln.” she began, digging through her bag for some clothes. “I mean, we  _ do  _  need some other Inhumans over here to help start rebuilding. I don’t think we’re ready for any Inhumans to come from SHIELD just yet, but we need some. I know that Lincoln can get into contact with some of the ones that lived here before the other SHIELD attacked and my mother died. Hopefully, they’ll be willing to come. They did like Jiayang after all, and I’m her daughter. So maybe they’ll give me a chance.”

“They better. This whole thing doesn’t need to die before it even gets started.” Grant muttered, taking his towel off and turning to slip on a pair of underwear. “I mean, I know that we’re not the most qualified of candidates to lead a practical civilization, but we just need a chance. Well, I’m probably not the best person to lead anything, considering I still have no idea to who I really am.”

“That’ll probably all come in time, sweetheart.” Skye stated lightly, slipping on her shirt. But, honestly, would it all come back in time though? Skye still thought there was a bigger reason to why Grant came back with no memory whatsoever. She thought that he was mean to start a new life and just forget everything else that had ever happened to him. But she also had a bad feeling that it all would still come back sooner or later. And she really hated to see just how that would happen.

“Hopefully.” Grant stated, sighing as he finished lacing up his boots and flung on his jacket. “I’m tired of not knowing about myself. I still don’t even know my own middle name for God’s sakes.” His face fell and sadness settled in, “I’m lucky that I even know that my name is Grant Ward.”

“Is that all you can remember?”

He shrugged, “I remember that I was born in Massachusetts and that my birthday is sometime in January. Everything else is just one, huge blank.” Grant explained lightly. “I know that I want to remember, but there’s something telling me that I really don’t want to. That everything that I forgot is things that are meant to be left forgotten. I… I just don’t know what I want anymore.”

Skye bit her lip in worry.  In all honesty, there was a part of her that just wanted to sit him down and try to explain everything to him the best she could. But she didn’t want to subject him to the horror that was his past life. On the other hand, though, she didn’t want him to keep on suffering the way he was now because of his amnesia. She figured that it was just better to let his memories to try and return on their own. It seemed that things were slowly coming back to him. It would probably take months or even years for everything to come back. If that was even possible.

“You’ll probably figure things out in time, Grant. It doesn’t help that we’re really stressed out right now with all of the Afterlife stuff. Maybe, once everything does settle down, you’ll be able to focus on you memories more.” Skye stated, walking up to him and giving him a kiss on his bearded chin. “Give it a few months.”

Grant nodded and sighed, wrapping his arms around Skye and drawing her close, “I suppose you’re right.” he stated quietly. “I just need to give it time. I can’t try to rush everything.” He kissed the top of her head. “We’ve got way too much to do right now anyways.”

“Oh,” Skye pulled away and looked up at Grant. “Speaking of that, I need to go ahead and call Lincoln. Considering it may be a long conversation and that you really hate him, you can go explore around. Maybe go see if Joey and Elena are alright.”

“How long do you think it’ll take?”

“I dunno. Maybe an hour. At least. Go have some time to yourself. I ensure you that I’ll be fine. I’ll probably be in my mother’s office when you get back.”

Grant raised an eyebrow, “You wanna try and feel important or something?” he asked with a slight laugh. “Didn’t think that an office was really your style.”

“No, there’s just some more manuscripts and such in there. SHIELD didn’t recover  _ everything _ . I just want to take a look in them, that’s all.”

He nodded, “Sounds fine. I need to get some fresh air anyways. Maybe exercise my powers just a bit.”

“Just don’t burn down the entire village.”

Grant snorted, “Don’t worry, I won’t. I can find an open field or something.” he replied. “And I’ll try to restrain myself as well.”

Skye smiled and reached up to kiss him again, “Just don’t hurt yourself, okay?” she asked, pulling away from him once more. “And please try to not be gone so long. I get worried when you’re gone for extended periods of time.” She brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, “Just be safe.”

Grant nodded and smiled back at Skye, watching as she left him alone in the room. He quickly looked around the room before he headed out as well. In all honesty, he really didn’t feel like checking up on Joey and Elena, only because he knew that they were alright. Grant just wanted to go have some time to himself to try and exercise his flames. There really didn’t need to be anyone else around when he did so.

He headed out into the main area of the base and made his way towards the village’s exit, not really paying attention to his surroundings. It still felt weird that they were no longer living in a SHIELD base. And Grant was still trying to process the fact that he and Skye were supposedly the prophesied leaders of the Inhuman race. And all of that on top of his amnesia was just doing no good for him at all. 

He really didn’t want to tell Skye that he was feeling really bad. Truly, he didn’t want to worry about him when she really needed to be focusing on Afterlife. 

_ “Why is everyone so strange around me? _ ” Grant thought, heading for a field outside of the village walls.  _ “I know that Skye’s like the way she is because she loves me. But there still seems to be something else with her. I get the same vibe from everyone else. It’s like they already knew me. _

_ But I don’t know how that is when I have no idea of who they really are. Something’s not right here, but I’m not sure if I really want to find out the truth or not. Something’s telling me that I really don’t want to know what hides underneath my skin. There’s more to me than what I know.” _

Grant sighed as he walked deeper into the vast field, making sure that he was a good distance away from Afterlife before stopping. He shrugged off his jacket and threw it aside, stretching out his arms and allowing the flames to build-up right underneath his skin.  _ “Just need to practice my control on them. No need for fireworks.” _

The flames seeped from his skin and surrounded his bare arms like armor. Grant was really trying to test his connection with his flames, trying to see just how far he could shape them. The flames normally acted like extra limbs and Grant could shape them with ease. But he was always afraid of them taking him over again, his anger controlling him like how it did when he had killed that SHIELD agent. Grant couldn’t help any of it. He couldn’t help any of what was wrong with him.

He let the flames shoot out around him like whips lashing at the air. If there had been someone watching him, they would’ve most likely called him a demon of sorts. Even though he hadn’t had his powers for very long, only for a few months, he already had tremendous control over them. It was just that using his flames came completely natural to him, like he had always had them. Grant just assumed it was linked to the prophecy somehow. 

Looking up towards the sky, Grant watched as the flames whipped at the air, cinders beginning to drift on the wind.  _ “Ah, _ ” He looked to the tall grass surrounding him,  _ “Better tone it down some, don’t need the grass to catch fire. I-” _ He stopped suddenly, the flames snuffing out, as a loud roaring noise suddenly filled his ears.

He looked all around him for the source of the noise, seeing nothing but nature and Afterlife as the noise continued to grow.  _ “What, what is that? It sound like I’m in a plane.” _ He paused and his stomach churned,  _ “But how would I know that? I’ve never been in a plane other that than small one we came here in. It sounds bigger, like the wind is rushing around me from somewhere.” _

“Ward!”

Grant blinked and looked around,  _ “Wait, who said my name?”  _ he thought, covering his ears as the roaring grew even louder. He just didn’t understand, there was no one around. 

“I know that you care about us, Ward!”

“ _ Fitz _ ?” Grant croaked as he dropped to his knees. Why was the engineer screaming his name? He truly didn’t understand what was going on, but it all tugged at his heart for some reason, digging up emotions he didn’t even remember to why they were there.

Regret. 

Sadness.

Fear.

Grant brought his head down to the ground, tears streaming down his face as he pressed his hands up against the sides of his head. Fitz’s screams echoed in his head as Grant’s mind started to go static, old memories clawing their way to the surface.

“Fitz, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

Please forgive me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm actually back with this! The main wait with this was just me trying to complete two other fics of mine, so I should hopefully update this more. And the end of this chapter was a nod to another fic that I did, which also had Grant with amnesia. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	30. Just Leave Me in Denial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grant comes to face a harsh truth.

Grant managed to half-limp back to the main house despite his splitting migraine. He was still trying to make sense of the hallucination, which seemed so skewed and messed-up to him. Why had he been hearing Fitz of all people? He hardly even knew the engineer, so why did he feel guilty? Had he done something to the young agent sometime in his blackened past?

He knew that something was terribly wrong here and he had a really, really bad feeling that Skye, alongside everybody else, was keeping something from him. Was that why she always seemed to skirt around the subject when he brought up his memory issues? Even though Grant didn’t want to question the woman he loved, but he needed some serious answers to why he would be hallucinating Fitz of all people. But there was one thing he knew for sure:

He needed to apologize to Fitz for _something_.

If only he could remember what that something was. An overwhelming sense of guilt was starting to eat away at his resolve. And he didn’t know to why he felt this way. Fitz seemed like a nice enough man, so Grant didn’t know why he felt like he had hurt him in some way.

Something was being kept from him.

Something big.

Grant leaned up against the door of the main house to try and catch his breath. His vision was growing blurry and he knew that it wouldn’t be long before he passed out cold. So he at least needed to get to Skye before that happened. But it wasn’t like Skye wouldn’t know that he had passed out if he didn’t get to her in time. She would feel it in some way due to their link.

He fumbled for the door and stumbled inside, trying to remember just where she said that she was going to be. _‘Office.’_ he thought. _‘She’s in the office… But where is that? Don’t know.’_

Even though Grant was growing weaker and weaker by the second, he thought he could rely on their link to try and find her. He could faintly sense her, giving him a bit of an understanding to where she was at. Stumbling down the hall, a hand against the wall for support, he followed that sense as it started to grow stronger.

_‘I… I don’t know what’s going on. Something’s wrong. I don’t know why I feel this way. Do I even know anything at all?’_

After what seemed like ages, Grant finally reached a door in which he could feel Skye behind. He blindly reached for the doorknob and practically fell into the room as the door came open.

Skye jumped up as Grant came crashing into the room. Her face twisted up in horror and her stomach dropped as she saw the wild look in Grant’s eyes as he frantically looked around the room. He stumbled towards her and gripped at his head as his eyes fell onto her. Why hadn’t she felt this? She wasn’t feeling anything from him right now other than some sense of dread that was building in the pit of her stomach.

“Grant, are you okay?” she asked, bolting forward to try and help him. “W-What’s going on?”

Grant’s eyes darted wildly around the room again, “S-Something’s wrong.” he stammered. “Something’s wrong with me.”

Skye placed her hands on his shoulder to at least attempt to steady him as he wobbled on his feet. “What do you mean that something’s wrong with you?” she asked softly, trying not to scare him or anything. He didn’t need to lose control of his powers now.

His eyes rested on her again, “Hearing things. Head hurts.” he almost whimpered. He was starting to lose control of his emotions for some reason and he was honestly scared of what was going on.

 _‘Hearing things?’_ Skye thought, looking straight into his eyes. _‘Sounds like he’s hallucinating. But of what?’_ She gave him a small smile to try and calm him down, “What are you hearing, sweetheart? Whatever it is, it isn’t real.”

“Fitz.” Grant’s eyes darted around again. “He’s in my head.”

Skye’s stomach dropped again. Fitz? Why would he be hearing Fitz? Unless… Unless his memories were already starting to return. And it looked as though it was driving him insane.

Grant pulled away and clawed at his head, “I don’t know him, Skye. But I feel like I hurt him in the past somehow.” he continued, not waiting for Skye to answer. “His cries won’t stop. They keep echoing out in my head.” He looked back to her, “I don’t know him, Skye.” he repeated. “I don’t know him!”

“Grant,” Skye began, taking a step towards him. But Grant quickly stepped away.

His eyes glowed with an eerie light as he began to shake his head. He turned towards the door, “I’ve got to apologize, Skye!” he exclaimed. “I did something! It’s not me! I don’t hurt people!”

Skye shot forward and wrapped her hand around his wrist, “Grant, I think you need to rest. And there’s no way to contact Fitz without alerting SHIELD. Whatever the hell you’re talking about…. It’s gonna have to wait.” She couldn’t believe this. It seemed as though he half-remembered hurting Fitz. He just didn’t remember exactly what he did. He just knew that he had hurt the engineer in some way and needed to apologize.

“No!” Grant protested. “Something’s wrong! I’ve got to make it right!”

“Grant, you need to sit down and rest. Something’s clearly making you sick.” Skye state firmly, hoping that she could get him to calm down before the worst case scenario could happen. “Please.”

Grant’s face fell, “You’re trying to push this away.” he stated coldly. “You know something, don’t you?”

“Grant,”

“What are you keeping from me, Skye?” he asked. “You’re always like this when I bring up my memory issues.” Sadness shone brightly in his eyes. “What’s so terrible that you’ve got to keep it from me? We’re supposed to be together forever, right? Then why are you keeping things from me that clearly hold the secrets to my past? What the hell do you know?”

Skye went to pull away from him, but Grant grasped her by the bicep with a firm, yet gentle, hand. “Grant, she began again. “There’s… There’s just some things that you don’t need to know.”

Pain filled his face as he fully realized that Skye had been lying to him this whole time. But, for some reason, it felt justified. That this was some kind of retribution against him for whatever his previous life had held.

And it was clear that Skye was far too afraid to tell him the truth.

Grant pulled his hand away from Skye’s hand and took a step back, hurt etched deep into his eyes. “We’re keeping secrets now?” he asked, his voice barely a croak. “What have I done to you? You know that I desperately want to know just who I was… And to find out you’ve apparently known something this entire time.”

Skye stepped forward, “Grant, please, just let me explain.” she begged. “I can,”

“No.” Grant snarled, tears starting to seep from his eyes. “Just… Just get the hell away from me.” His vision started to grow dark, but he didn’t notice. “I guess I can’t trust you. Stay the fuck away from me.”

And it felt like something tore Skye’s heart in two. She didn’t mean for it to end up like this. She just didn’t know that his memories would start to come back so soon. And she didn’t mean to hurt him like this.

She found herself unable to speak as she watched Grant turn around to leave the room. But he suddenly wobbled on his feet and her eyes widened as he came crashing to the ground.

“Grant!” She launched forward and came to his side. She frowned as she found him unconscious. _‘Need to get Joey and Elena to help me get him back to our bedroom…._

_But will he trust me after this? I don’t think that I can keep this up for much longer, but I’m afraid to tell him the truth. I just don’t know what it’ll do to him, but I can’t keep lying to him like this. He already doesn’t trust me and I don’t want to hurt him anymore._

_I’m so sorry, Grant. Please forgive me. You’ll eventually understand.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is really heavy with irony. Now Grant feels betrayed by Skye because she's been keeping the truth from him. The very truth of his betrayal. So now it's just a matter of if Skye decides to go ahead and tell him the truth or if the truth comes to him first. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	31. You're Bringing it Down on Top of Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye makes the decision to tell Grant the truth.

Skye closed the door behind her with a sigh, tears stinging in her eyes. She honestly didn’t intend for things to end up this way, but she had no idea that Grant’s memories would actually start to return so soon. Everyone had thought that his memories would stay gone, but it was clear that they wanted to come back.

Now Grant believed that he couldn’t trust her because she had withheld the truth from him. Honestly, she had wanted to see if his memories would come back on their own. And she didn’t really want to be the one to tell him everything that had happened to him. How could she even possibly begin to tell him the truth? She had no idea of where to even begin.

“How is he?”

Skye looked to see Joey and Elena standing a few feet away, worry etched onto their faces. She shook her head and shrugged, “He’s still asleep, if that’s what you’re asking. I honestly don’t know to what could’ve caused him to pass out like that. He completely flipped out on me and he was hallucinating.”

“I thought that his memories weren’t supposed to come back.” Joey questioned, casting a glance towards the closed door. “So why is he hallucinating Fitz?”

“That’s the thing. I just don’t know. We all assumed that there was a reason behind his amnesia and that his memories wouldn’t come back; that this was his chance at a new life. Or maybe it was just a side effect of his resurrection and it was only temporary. The latter seems to be the case.” Skye solemnly explained. “But I just don’t know what to do now. I think he hates me now because of all of this.”

“You two are supposed to be mates, right?” Elena asked, raising an eyebrow. “Then why would he hate you?”

“He’s been so focused on figuring out who he really is for the past while and we were all keeping the truth from him.” Skye began to answer. “I don’t think he can process the fact that we’ve known who he is all along. He’s hurt. He doesn’t think he can trust me anymore. Funny how things work out in the end.”

“Then why not go ahead and tell him the truth?” Joey suggested, trying to figure out a solution to all of this. “It seems that keeping things from him will do more harm than good now. He was already mentally unstable before, we can’t risk him getting even worse. We don’t need a psychotic Inhuman running around that can fling fire from his hands.”

Skye ran her hands through her hair, “Honestly, Joey, you’re right. I probably need to go ahead and try to explain things to him. I know that I can’t explain _everything_ to him, but I can probably at least cover the basics. Hopefully the rest will come to him eventually. God, I really hope that he’ll understand to why we kept the truth from him.”

“Sometimes a painful truth is better than living a lie.” Joey stated quietly. “The truth may hurt, but a lie may do way more damage in the end. It’s best that you go ahead and tell him when he wakes up.”

Honestly, he was right. It would do way more damage in the end if she tried to keep up the ongoing façade. So she needed to figure out some way to explain things to him in a way that wouldn’t further upset him and possibly cause his anger to explode. They really didn’t need Afterlife burning down in an inferno.

So she needed to take things slow and simple with him. Perhaps start off with the fact that she really had known him before all of this and slowly go into what had happened. She didn’t want to rip the bandage off all at once, she needed to do it little by little to ensure that Grant wouldn’t get upset or anything of the like. Grant’s mental state definitely wasn’t the best right now, so Skye knew that she had to be careful with what she chose to say.

And Grant wouldn’t like any of his past. This version would hate to know that he had been such a monster in his past life. He was far from hurting people on purpose now. Hell, he was a far cry from his previous self. In all honestly, it would be difficult for Skye to explain everything to him in a way that wouldn’t set him off.

Joey noticed Skye’s apprehension and he nodded slightly, “Look, we’ll leave you two alone. We’ll come back later to see how things are going.” he stated softly. “This is something best left up to you.”

Skye nodded and sighed, “Hopefully I can try something, but there’s no telling to when he’ll wake up. It may be a while.”

“Take all the time that you need.” Elena added in. “Things like this…. They take time.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Skye tried to force a small smile. “Thanks. If anything happens, I’ll let you two know. I already called Lincoln about getting other Inhumans here and he’s working on it, so we’re good there.”

She turned around without another word and slipped back into the room, softly closing the door behind her. She found Grant curled up in the middle of the bed, his arms grasped tightly around one of the pillows. His face twitched as though he was in a bad dream and Skye’s heart began to hurt for him. He couldn’t even find peace in his own dreams. He couldn’t find peace anywhere.

“Grant, I just don’t know what to do.” Skye whispered, sitting down on the edge of the bed near his head and trying not to disturb him. “I honestly didn’t mean for things to end up this way. I wasn’t trying to hurt you by keeping the truth from you, I thought I was doing something good. Hell, we all did. I didn’t think that your memories would come back like this.” She reached out and ran a hand through his thick, black hair. “I still love you, you know. I don’t want this to ruin things.

I’ll try to explain everything to you, but I don’t know how well of a job I can do. Some things will just have to come back naturally.” she continued. “But please don’t think that I was trying to hurt you or anything of the such by hiding the truth from you. I just wanted to protect you and I thought that it was the only way to do so.

But I was wrong and it only made things worse and I honestly don’t know what to do. I don’t want this to hurt us. I don’t want you to think that you can’t trust me. I’m just so worried of the consequences that this’ll have on you.”

She ran a gentle finger over his cheekbone, “I’m sorry that I kept things from you, but you’ll understand why I did such a thing.” she whispered. “You’re not going to like what I have to say. It may be the truth, but it’s far from a good thing.

And I don’t want it to be the end of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm so sorry that there was such a wait with this. I meant to update this past week, but I had exams and such. I'll try to get as close to done as possible in the coming weeks, but it may come to a halt for a while in May. I have to have a pretty big surgery done on my knee and I don't know how I'll feel for a while, so my fics may be on hiatus for some time. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	32. Are You Reminded of All You Used to Be?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye finally tells Grant the truth.

It took about three hours for Grant to wake up and he immediately freaked out when he saw that Skye was still near him. “What did I tell you?!” he screamed, burrowing in the bed to try and get away from her. He still felt pain from her ‘betrayal’. He still couldn’t believe that she had been keeping his past away from him this whole entire time.

“Please get away from me.” he whimpered, unsure of what to do. “I don’t want you here anymore.”

Skye’s heart almost tore in two with the sound of Grant’s voice. She never wanted to hurt him, but she ended up doing so in the end. So maybe keeping the truth from him wasn’t the best idea after all. But how would have they known that his memories would start to come back to him so soon? There was no way of them to know. And now Skye had the biggest job of all, trying to explain everything to him.

“Grant,” she began, slowly raising her hands. “Please, just calm down. Let me explain some things. Please.”

Grant snarled at her, a red glow seeping into his eyes, “I already know the truth. You’ve been lying to me this whole time. You know just who I am and you failed to tell me that! What’s so damn important that you had to keep it from me?”

“You… You wouldn’t like the truth, Grant.” she answered, shaking her head. “You came back to us with no memory at all. And we thought that you were supposed to stay like that; that you weren’t supposed to remember the past at all. We thought that you were a blank slate given another chance at life. That’s why we kept the truth from you.” She sighed and sat down in a chair that was a few feet away from the bed. “But we made a huge mistake on our part.” 

“So,” Grant began, slowly sitting up in the bed. “You’ve known me this entire time. Is that why everyone treated me so badly?”

Skye nodded, “That’s exactly why. We were on another team before. It was only us, Coulson, May, and Fitzsimmons. Everyone was happy… Well, until the Uprising.” 

Grant blinked, “You mean Hydra?” he questioned. “What happened?”

Her breath hitched in her throat. Grant still didn’t remember anything about being Hydra. He just knew that he had hurt Fitz in some way and that everyone else was keeping something from him. So that meant she had to explain most things to him to the best of her ability. 

“You hurt us.”

Grant’s face fell and drained of all color, “I… Hurt you?” he croaked. “Why would I do such a thing? I-”

“You betrayed us. Your loyalties were elsewhere.” Skye answered for him. “We thought you cared for us, but you cared more for your deranged mentor in the end. You did a hell of a lot of damage.”

The hurt look on Grant’s face spoke the words he couldn’t manage to say himself. Why would he do such a thing? He didn’t want to hurt anyone. At least it explained everyone else’s behavior towards him. But it still all hurt.

“Don’t ask me to explain why you followed him, because I don’t think anyone knows that answer anymore.” Skye continued, not waiting for him to answer. “And, honestly, I don’t even think you knew that yourself. You seemed lost, like you didn’t know what you were doing. I remember you saying something about how the man saved you from a hell and you owed him everything. But all he did was pull you into a deeper hell. He did you no good at all.”

Grant struggled to swallow the dry lump that had formed in his throat, something pulling at the further depths of his mind. “W-What was the man’s name?” he managed to ask. “Who was he?”

“His name was John Garrett. He was a SHIELD agent until something happened and he believed that SHIELD turned their back on him. He was dying and looking for a way to survive. So he sent you into our team to spy on us. Well, spy on Coulson.”

“Why would he need that?”

“You’re not the only one who has been brought back to life. Coulson died at Loki’s hands during the Battle of New York.” Skye answered lightly, hoping that Grant wouldn’t slip into a panic attack soon. “SHIELD used some kind of serum and machine to bring him back to life eight days later. Garrett wanted to know just how Coulson came back so he could use it for himself.”

“I… I take it he didn’t succeed.”

Skye shook her head, “No, he didn’t. Coulson killed him during the Uprising.”

Grant nodded and muttered something to himself before looking back up to Skye, “Then that’s a good thing then. But… But it sounds like I was worse than him. What did I do?”

“Grant, do you really want to know the truth?” she asked quietly, suppressing a gulp. “There’s a really good reason to why we kept it from you.”

“It can’t do anymore harm than good, right?” Grant looked away and started to pick at his fingers. “Go ahead. Can’t be worse than what I’ve already imagined.”

“You first took the life of a high level SHIELD operative named Victoria Hand in order to protect Garrett.” Skye began, holding no punches back. “Garrett eventually sent you back to us to get a hard drive unlocked, which meant taking me because I was the one that locked it. Not after killing another SHIELD agent named Eric Koenig to protect your cover. I eventually managed to escape with Coulson’s help. Things went down, Fitzsimmons somehow got onto the plane and Garrett ordered you to kill them. But you instead dropped them in the ocean in a medical pod.

_ “It was supposed to float.” _ Grant’s stomach churned as something pulled at his mind again, but stronger this time. “It sunk and I ended up hurting Fitz, right?”

Skye blinked, remembering that this was what he had been hallucinating earlier. “Yeah, you did. The pod malfunctioned and it sunk. When they tried to get out, Ftiz was knocked unconscious and was without air for an extended period of time. He has significant brain damage and had issues for a while. I know that he seems better now, but he still has problems from time to time.” she explained lightly, struggling to recall it herself. “You did a lot of damage, even if you didn’t intend to.”

“Please tell me I was arrested. Please.” Grant practically begged. He was already starting to shut down because of the panic setting in.

“In a way. We took you in and locked you in a basement cell in the base. In retrospect, it was a horrible idea. You needed help, serious help. And we ignored it all because we hated you. You were mentally unstable and we ignored you. You even tried to take your own life three times.” Skye’s voice croaked with each word. “And we… No,  _ I _ encouraged it. We even sent you to your abusive older brother to finally deal with you once and for all. Then you escaped. You killed your parents and brother to get some kind of closure. Then you came back for me. 

You had promised that you would help me find my family And that’s exactly what you did.” she continued, turning her gaze away from him. “You kidnapped me and took me to San Juan where my father was waiting. San Juan is where I got my powers…” she trailed off and shook her head. “And I thanked you by putting four bullets in your side.”

Grant’s hand automatically went to his right side, despite there being no scars. He was struggling to process all of this and he had a bad feeling that more things would come back to him just like how Fitz had. “Is that when I died?”

“No, another ex-agent took you in. Kara Palamas. Long story short, you vowed to help her out of Hydra’s brainwashing and became devoted to her. After torturing an agent of ours to get closure for Kara, SHIELD attacked the building you were in and tricked you into killing her.” Skye stopped and took a breath, “You lost it after that. You went insane. You decided to take the reigns of a Hydra faction and was Hydra’s leader for a short time.

Your revenge path against SHIELD drove you to your death on an alien planet. You had agreed to help another Hydra head try to bring back an ancient Inhuman demigod that Hydra used to worship long ago. Coulson followed you to that planet after you had killed Rosalind Price, whom of which was his girlfriend. You met your end at the other end of Coulson’s robotic hand. The Inhuman soon took your corpse as its host body. Hive was a monster and killed a lot.”

“What happened to it?” Grant struggled to ask, feeling a panic attack coming on. “Where is it?”

“We killed it and got it out of your body. But your body disappeared. Then your story starts a few months ago when we found you a year later.” Skye answered, finishing her story. “Long story short, you were a really bad guy. That’s why we didn’t want to tell you any of it. We figured that this new life was a second chance and we didn’t want your past interfering with that. Perhaps it was a selfish decision on our part. But we honestly were afraid of what would happen if you knew.”

“I… I-I’m not that monster anymore, Skye.” he begged with her, a heavy glaze starting to coat his eyes. It wouldn’t be long until he passed out. The weight of the truth was far too much for him to bear alone. “Please, I’m not.”

Skye stood to her feet and slowly began to make her way towards him, “Grant, I know you’re not. You wouldn’t hurt a fly now.”

“Then what about that agent I killed?”

“That was an accident.”

“I still killed him. I’m a murderer.” He looked up at her with tears in his eyes. “I’m not a good man, Skye.” he cried. “And I never will be.” He sunk down into the sheet and tried to hide from her. “Get away from me. I’ll just hurt you again in the end.”

“Grant,” 

“Please. You’re the only thing I have left. And I don’t want to lose you again.” Grant’s body suddenly seized up and he fell still. Skye could tell that he had passed out cold. The truth truly had been far too much for his mind to handle. Hopefully, just hopefully, he would be okay when he woke. Whenever that may be.

Skye wiped at the building tears in her eyes and crawled into the bed beside Grant, wrapping her arms around him the best she could. She wished that she could get rid of his pain, but she knew that it just wasn’t possible.

“Grant, I’m so sorry that I kept everything from you. I really wish that I didn’t have to, but there was honestly no telling to what would happen when I did tell you.

Now I know the truth was far too much for you to handle.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so Grant finally knows the truth to who he really is, and he doesn't like it one bit. Now it's just a matter of how he processes the truth and how he'll be now that he finally knows who he is. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	33. Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grant starts to understand why things were kept from him.

Grant woke about two hours later and left the room without a single word to Skye, whom of which had been sitting on the edge of the bed. She had left his side about an hour ago; she didn’t want Grant to wake up and freak out because she was right next to him. A freak out wasn’t something that they needed. She didn’t want Afterlife going up into flames.

His attitude towards her now physically hurt her. Even though it had been expected of him, Skye still couldn’t fathom the fact that it seemed as though he actually  _ hated  _ her now. They were supposed to be together until the end of time, there was no way that they could actually have feelings of hate for one another. Skye honestly hoped that Grant would eventually understand to why they had kept the truth from him. She really did.

She gave him about another thirty minutes to himself before she went out to look for him. He really didn’t need to be left alone right now, so Skye figured that it was best if she went after him. Perhaps he would be willing to talk about things some more so they could settle things out. She just wanted him to come to an understanding so they could get back to what they came here for.

After walking all around Afterlife, Skye had found him in a field outside of the city gates. He stared up at the sky, standing in the middle of the wildflowers. She was careful to approach him, not wanting to spook him at all. Or cause him to retaliate against her. There was no telling to how he truly felt about her now. 

But as she approached him, he was the first to speak as she got within mere feet of him. 

“You know, I remember a little bit more now.”

Skye stopped and frowned as he looked towards her, a lost look in his eyes, “What do you mean?” she asked, taking another step towards him since it seemed as though he wasn’t hostile. “What do you remember?”

A pained look suddenly ghosted across his face and he turned his gaze away from her, “I remember you turning a gun on me and firing four bullets into my side.” he muttered, gingerly touching his side. “I know that you told me about it, but I physically  _ remember  _ that now. I remember that I was just trying to help you…. Even though I did kidnap you to do so.” He looked back towards her, a swirl of torment in his eyes, “Why did you shoot, Skye?”

Her stomach dropped and she was honestly unsure of why she did so. She just remembered being angry at him and being in a hurry to find the temple. She hadn’t been thinking straight at all; she had just fired at him. There hadn’t been any rhyme or reason to it whatsoever. How could she tell him that?

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I hadn’t been thinking straight.” She took another step towards him and reached for his hand, and he luckily didn’t shy away when she took it. “I had been so obsessed with finding the temple where I got my powers. I thought it held the answers to what I had always been searching for. I just wanted to know who I really was and I let that cloud my judgement. I should’ve run when I realized that my father was a madman. I’m so, so sorry for that.”

“But it wasn’t like I was any better.”

“But, honestly, you still cared in your own twisted way.” Skye reached up and brushed a lock of hair off of his forehead. “You were helping the only way you knew how to. No one had ever showed you kindness or had properly helped you, so you had no idea of how to do the same. You were just trying to fulfill a promise you made, you just didn’t know how.”

Grant nodded slightly and looked away, “It sounds like I didn’t know a lot of things.” he stated lightly. “Why?”

“Honestly, I think you had a big heart back then, but since you were always treated with such cruelty, you never knew how to show that heart.” Skye answered. “You acted the only way you knew how: with violence. There had never been anyone else to show you otherwise. And you hadn’t been able to realize that the team and I had cared for you until it was too late. Then we turned into the enemy and had wanted you to die. You never had known kindness.”

“Maybe not until now.”

Skye looked back up to him, confusion settling in on her features, “What do you mean?”

“Skye, I still love you, I do. I may hate that you kept the truth from me, but you were honestly trying to keep me from getting hurt. You thought it was in my best interest. And, honestly, after thinking about what you told me, I could’ve gone the rest of my life not knowing any of that. I didn’t know that the truth would be so  _ painful _ .” He swallowed and looked back up to the sky, “I had no idea that I had been such a bad man. If I could go back and change it all, I would. But that’s not possible.”

“Look, Grant, the past’s in the past. We don’t have the power to go back and change it.” She ran a hand down his arm, “But there was a reason to why you were brought back. We’re supposed to lead the Inhumans, maybe that’s your shot at redemption. If you can become a great leader and help to lead the generations to come into a great future, then maybe it’ll make up for all of the horrible shit that you did in the past. But you’ve got to stop dwelling on the past, we’ve got too much to do right now.”

Grant sighed and pulled away from Skye, “How can a monster like me lead an entire race?” he asked, his voice hollow. “I’ll only end up destroying them. It’s what my dreams tell me anyways…” He trailed off and shook his head. “How can you be so sure that I can do this? I’m losing faith in myself.”

“Grant, you’ll do fine. It’ll be hard at first as you come to terms with things and start to remember more, but it’ll get better.” Skye tried to reassure him, taking his hand once more. “Once we start getting others here, it’ll get easier. It may take a while, but it’ll happen. There’s a reason to why we were chosen for this.”

“And what if it was a mistake? What if we’re not really the two destined Inhumans? What if we got this all wrong?”

“I don’t think we did.” Skye smiled at him and started to pull him back towards the city. “We’ll be fine, Grant, I promise.”

A faint smile ghosted across Grant’s lips as they made their way back. He honesty felt so bad for going off on her earlier, but it seemed as though she didn’t care. It was just him reacting to everything, he really couldn’t be blamed for anything there. And, truly, they had much, much bigger things to worry about than his memory issues. 

“I really hope that you’re right, Skye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for its shortness, but I wasn't sure of what to write. But I hope that it was good enough! Grant has started to calm down and has realized that there are bigger things to worry about than his past. Good? I hope so. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	34. Just Keep Going

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things move forward.

(Two Days Later)

Grant looked up as he sensed Skye coming into the room. He smiled at her as she plopped down right next to him on the bed, “Something the matter?” he asked, reaching for her hand. He sighed as the spark reignited between them as their skin made contact.

She shook her head and leaned into him. Boy, she was glad that the whole incident hadn’t caused him to hate her and that he had pretty much forgiven her. “No, just exhausted. You know I’ve been working all day to try and figure out just what to do. But I’ve got some good news, though.”

“And what’s that?”

“I talked to Lincoln earlier and he said that some of the old residents, including some elders, are coming over the next couple of days. Some of them are bringing supplies and such to make this place a little more habitable.” she explained, playing with his fingers and smiling as warmth pooled from his hands. “One or two should be coming tomorrow. I can’t believe everything’s already falling into line.”

“Even though that’s great, I wouldn’t be saying things like that so soon.” Grant stated, looking her straight in the eyes. “I know that it’s good to be optimistic about things here, but I wouldn’t go ahead and say that everything’s going well. I think we need to wait a little longer and see how things turn out before really making judgements about anything. Maybe in a few months or so. I know that we’ve got eternity to make things right, but we need to ensure that we do do everything right so it won’t take forever for things to run smoothly.”

Skye frowned and nodded after a few moments of silence. “Yeah, I suppose that you’re right.” she stated lightly. “There’s no telling to what could happen between now and the time we finally have this place up and running again. And there’s no telling to just how long all of this crap will take. You’re right about being optimistic, but I guess that I do need to keep everything in mind. SHIELD still hasn’t figured out about all of this yet. That’ll really throw a wrench in things when that does end up happening.”

“And it probably won’t be long. They’re more than likely after me.” Grant continued, letting Skye get closer to his body. “After everything that came back to me, even though most of it still is gone, I understand to why they treated me that way when I flipped out. I understand why Coulson was so quick to turn his back on me. They all probably think that I’m an absolute monster, well all except Fitz and that Mack guy. Hell, even Lincoln hates me and I’m pretty sure that I never did anything to him.” He paused and looked back to her, “Just _why_ does he hate me?”

“You never explicitly did anything to him. Hive maybe did something and he just still sees you as him. I really don’t know. I truly just think it’s because you came between him and me. And that I always cared more about you than I did him.” Skye explained with a sigh. “He was just more of a _thing_ to help distract myself from what happened with you. I don’t think I truly ever loved him. I’m not really sure.”

“So he’s jealous then?”

“Eh, probably. And that just translates into him hating the both of us. He doesn’t understand that we can’t be with anyone else whatsoever.” Skye continued with a shake of her head. “At least he’s will to help us. Even though he’s doing it more for Afterlife than he’s doing it for us. But it’s still a start.”

“As long as he doesn’t try to kill me again or send Coulson our way, then I’m completely fine with it.” Grant stated. “We’ve got far too much to worry about to have to worry about his sorry ass. As long as he cooperates, then I’m okay.”

Skye nodded slowly, sleep starting to drag her down. It had been a long day for her, so it wouldn’t be much longer before she fell asleep. And she hadn’t even had a shower or anything. At least her mother’s building was equipped with modern plumbing and everything (and thanks to Grant, everything had been washed and was now completely spotless).

“We’ll be fine, sweetheart.” she mumbled into his shirt, the gentle heat of his body not helping her whatsoever. “It may take a while for things to settle out and to get to where we want them to be, but everything will be fine eventually. I promise.”

A small smile pulled at Grant’s lips and he pulled Skye closer, pressing a kiss to the back of her hand. Even though there was a possibility that everything could go wrong, he still had her. She would always be there no matter what. Even with what had happened over the past couple of days with his memories. They would always be together, no matter what. There was nothing in the entire world that could pry them apart.

“Well, I hope that you’re right.” Grant muttered. He trailed off and looked off towards the other side of the room before looking back to Skye, “Hey, it’s probably best that you go take a shower and everything before you fall asleep. Don’t need to go to bed without doing any of that.”

“Not unless you take a shower with me.” Skye mumbled into his side, not wanting to get up. The downside to Grant’s unnaturally high body heat was that it easily lulled her right to sleep if the time was right. “I’m not going in there all by myself. You’ve gotta go with me.”

“It’s just the bathroom, Skye. It’s not going to eat you alive or anything of the such.”

“Yeah, but I want you to go with me. Shouldn’t that be good enough of a reason to get you to come with me. And besides, I can tell that you haven’t had a shower yet as well.”

“And how can you tell that?”

“You smell like smoke.”

Grant’s face fell and eventually pulled into a smile, “Ah, fine I’ll go in there with you.” he stated, slipping out of the bed and standing to his feet as Skye sat up. He reached for the hem of his shirt and started to slip it off, “This is just because I haven’t had one yet either. And I love you.”

“Of course you do.” Skye retorted, slipping out of the bed and heading over towards him. She reached up and pecked him on his bearded chin just as he slipped off his shirt and threw it aside. She grabbed his hand and started to pull him towards the bathroom, even though he hadn’t finished getting undressed just yet. He guessed that it would have to wait just a bit. “You’ll always love me and I’ll always love you.”

A heavy blush grew on Grant’s freckled cheeks as Skye drug him right into the bathroom. He always loved it when Skye told him things like that. To be honest, he was a sap for those kinds of things.

“I-I love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And i now that this was short, but I didn't really know what to write. And this fic (like my others if you saw the note in Ordinary World) will be on hiatus for a week or so due to me having knee surgery tomorrow. I'll be in the hospital for a couple of days and I'm not sure of when I'll feel like writing again. But I'll eventually return. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	35. First Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first Inhumans arrive at Afterlife.

(The Next Day)

 

Grant looked up as what seemed to be the sound of a plane overhead. He frowned and looked over to Skye, “Please tell me that’s the people that are supposed to be coming soon and not SHIELD.” he stated warily. “Because I know this place isn’t on any known flight paths.”

“Grant, I’m sure that it’s them. Meaning, we need to go out there and greet them so we can make a good first impression.” Skye answered, standing to her feet and turning to look at him. “We can’t have the first people that come back here hate us at first sight. Even though that would probably be expected of the elders though. They probably don’t accept the fact that ‘kids’, that’s in their terms according to Lincoln, are leading the Inhuman city. But we still need to make our leadership look worthy or whatnot.”

“You know that I’m not good at being on the welcome wagon. You know that.” Grant stated, rising to his feet as well and taking his place right next to her so they could leave the building and head to where the plane had landed. “I never have.”

“Just don’t act like Mr. ‘I’ve Got a Stick up My Ass’ and you should be fine.” Skye pretty much shot back as their hands threaded together. “You tend to be that way around strangers.”

“That’s because I  _ don’t  _ like strangers, Skye. They…” He lowered his voice, “They kind of freak me out.” he admitted as they made their way outside, the bright sun shining hot over their heads. “I can’t help that I act that way.”

“I know that.” Skye answered lightly. “After everything you’ve been through, I can’t blame you for distrusting people that you don’t know. It’ll take some time for that to heal. And I assure you, you’ve got plenty of time to heal. We’ve probably got a few hundred years or so.”

A slight smirk pulled at Grant’s lips, “I really hope that my mental issues won’t take several centuries to clear up. I’m hoping for the next decade. At least.” he replied. “I can’t help you lead if I can’t even control my own mind. I’ve got to get better before we really get this place rolling, right?”

“Well, I guess. But as long as SHIELD doesn’t try to come and mess with us, you should be fine. You need to stay far away from them.”

“I do want to at least apologize to Fitz at some point though.” Grant admitted as they stopped right outside of the city’s gates. “Maybe not in the next year or two, but at least sometime. I want to show him that I really do regret what happened.”

“What about Simmons?”

“Well, I really don’t know about that. You  _ did  _ mention that she tried to murder me in cold blood, so I really don’t feel anything for her.” he deadpanned, his eyes trailing to a small plane in the distance and two people walking their way. “I don’t think Fitz really tried to do anything. And I did really screw him over.

But I won’t apologize to anyone that tried to hurt me. Not to Coulson. Not to May. Not to any of them.” he continued. “They gave up on me.”

Skye’s mouth grew dry, “Then what about me?” she asked. “I pretty much told you to kill yourself and I shot you four times. Going by your logic, you wouldn’t forgive me either.”

Grant’s face fell and he immediately shook his head, “Well, our situation’s different, considering everything.” he answered. “Yeah, I  _ am  _ mad that you did all that, but with what’s going on with us I  _ have  _ to forgive you so all of this will work. So that’s different. Alright?”

“Yeah,” Skye sighed and they began to walk towards the approaching figures. “I guess that you’re right. It still makes things a little awkward between us, but we had no choice. We’ve got to get all of this to work if the Inhumans are to thrive here.” 

She stopped and waved at the new figures, whom of which waved back as they got closer. Grant frowned and studied the two Inhumans, noting that one was a man and the other was a girl. Both looked fairly similar to one another, so Grant assumed that they were more than likely twins. They seemed to be in their early twenties. 

“You’re Jiayang’s daughter, right?” the woman asked as they approached Skye and Grant. “Right?”

Skye gave them a sincere smile and nodded, “Yeah, I am. You probably heard her refer to me as Daisy, but you can call me Skye.” she stated. She turned and gestured towards Grant, “And this is Grant Ward, my, uh, boyfriend.” Honestly, she really wasn’t sure of how to explain who Grant was to them. Yes, he was her boyfriend, but he was truly much more than that. 

The woman nodded back at them, “I’m Risa Guiness, that’s my twin brother Keith.” she began to explain. “We were in Afterlife for a few years, well until SHIELD came and we had to run. We got into an accident when we were about sixteen and, somehow, Terrigen was involved. You know what happens from there. 

Our parents kicked us out and we had nowhere to go.” she continued. “We truly thought that we were going to die for a while.”

“Then I assume that Gordon came for you and brought you here.”

Another nod. “Yeah.” she answered. “You have no idea how relieved we were when we found out we finally had a home where no one would be afraid of us.”

“And you have no idea how happy we were when Lincoln called us saying that Jiayang’s daughter was trying to set the place back up.” Keith cut in, sticking his hands in his pockets. “We were in and out of places ever since this place fell to SHIELD.”

“Well, hopefully we can get everything to run right once we have more people here.” Skye stated. “A couple of more people are supposed to come in a few more days and some elders are supposed to come some time or another.” She pointed back towards the city, “We only have two others here with us. Lincoln’s our SHIELD liaison to help ferry Inhuman intakes to us if they want to come. I’m going to admit this: It’s going to take a while for this place to truly be back up and running again.”

Keith pointed back towards the plane, “We have some supplies in there that we, uh,  _ procured. _ ” he said, scratching at the back of his neck. “It’s not much, but it’ll help. And we can use that plane if you want. It’ll be good for supply runs and such.”

Skye nodded, “Yeah, that’s good. That’s really good.” she answered. She turned her backs to them, “Come on, we can show you where you’ll be staying.”

Both Keith and Risa nodded, grabbing their luggage and following Skye and Grant into Afterlife.

“Do you mind me asking what your powers are?” Skye asked as they made their way towards the houses.

“No, not at all.” Risa replied. “I can manipulate psychic energy and Keith’s skin can turn into a rock-like substance. So you can imagine that our parents were scared shitless when our powers started acting up.”

“Not everyone’s accepting of us. I have to tell you my story another time. But I can control the vibrational energy that’s all around us, which mainly translates into earthquakes and energy blasts from my hands.” Skye pointed back to Grant, “Grant’s a very powerful pyrokinetic. If you don’t want this place burnt to the ground, I suggest that you don’t get on his bad side. Honestly, he’s probably had the hardest of us all.”

Grant avoided their gazes and remained silent. He hated that Skye was talking to them like this. He didn’t like that she was basically addressing his problems right away. Honestly, he believed that it should stay a secret. The Inhuman people didn’t need to be afraid of one of their leaders. 

“Well, hopefully we’ll all be fine here.” Risa stated firmly. “Afterlife was nice, Jiayang was just a little strict. That’s all.”

“Grant and I are nothing like her. You’re free to come and go as you please. There’s no isolationist views here.” Skye answered. “I can promise you that. This is just a safe place for our kind to live.

After all, we’re still people, too.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long wait! I really haven't been able to get to my laptop since my surgery last month, so that's why there's been no updates. But, hopefully, I can keep it updated now. But I'm not crossing any fingers though. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	36. A Light Shining in the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grant expresses some doubts.

The next week came and went, ushering in about ten more Inhumans to Afterlife, including a couple of the elders. Everything really seemed to be settling in for Grant and Skye, so they really hoped that this was there sign that everything would be alright from here on out. As long as SHIELD didn’t try to bother them.

Now, the elders were mainly disproving of Afterlife’s new leadership. They had more respect for Skye since she was the daughter of Jiayang, but they didn’t trust Grant one bit. All they saw in him was an undisciplined kid with a penchant for violence and destruction. They feared that someone like him would only lead the Inhumans to their ultimate demise. But they had to acknowledge and accept the fact that these two young Inhumans were the ones of prophecy and were destined to lead the people. They couldn’t argue with the texts.

And Grant was probably the most unsure of everyone in the village of his and Skye’s leadership. With the resurfacing of his once-forgotten memories came uncertainty and fear. How could such a monster lead an entire civilization of people? He feared that he would fall to his past self and become an even greater monster in the end. He didn’t want anyone to see him become just that. He’d rather die before he would let that happen.

Then there were the regrets of the life he could no longer have. A part of him just wanted to settle down somewhere and have a nice, little family with Skye. He had once dreamed of being a father, and now he could no longer get that. He wasn’t even sure if he and Skye could have kids. And if they could, they would outlive their own children. That was something Grant didn’t want. He couldn’t handle to see his own children die way before he and Skye ever would.

And even though the Inhumans of Afterlife would be like one, big family, it still wasn’t the same to Grant at all. He’d still outlive them all. What was the point of being one of the oldest beings on the planet if he had to watch all of his friends die? That was immortality’s curse. The biggest downside to it all.

Now Grant wasn’t sure to what he wanted.

“You sure that we’re doing the right thing?” Grant asked, watching as Skye made her way out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped tightly around her waist. “I just feel like we’re running ourselves into a hole.”

Skye stopped and turned to look at him, giving him a questioning gaze. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Of course we’re doing the right thing, Grant. This is what we’re _supposed_ to do.”

Grant sighed and shook his head, “I mean the right thing for _us_.” he stressed. “It may be what we’re supposed to be doing, but is it really the right thing for us?”

“You’re having regrets again, aren’t you?” Skye asked in a low and calm voice, walking over towards Grant and sitting beside him on the bed.

“A part of me has always wanted a quiet life. One where I can settle down and have a family.” Grant explained, lacing his fingers with Skye’s. “Maybe we could’ve had one. But now we can’t. There’s no use having children when we’re both immortal. Our children would die long before us, and that’s something that I don’t want.

Now we’ll watch everything we know die as we continue to live. And then we’ll die alone.” he continued. “I… I don’t want to be immortal, Skye. I never asked for this.”

Skye’s face fell, “Grant, we won’t die alone.” she answered. “We’ll have the Inhumans alongside us. Yes, it may be several generations down the line, but they’ll still be there. And most of all, we’ll have one another. Just give it some time, sweetheart, it’ll get better. We’re just starting out and we really don’t know what to do at the moment. Maybe in a year or so things will be better. We just need to really get things rolling at this point.” She smiled at him, “Trust me, things will get better.”

Grant sighed again and leaned his head up against Skye’s shoulder, “I really hope that you’re right.” he muttered. “I just want things to be okay, and right now?” He shook his head, “They’re not going so well for me. I keep remembering things that I don’t want to and it hurts. You don’t know my nightmares, Skye. And you really don’t want to.”

“Grant, you’re still healing. It’s going to take a while for you to be mentally healthy again.” Skye ran her fingers through Grant’s damp hair. She had forgotten he had taken a shower before she had. He was already dressed for bed.

“You went through enough trauma for several lifetimes over.” she continued. “It’s going to take a while to heal from all that, even if you actually completely recover. You’ll probably have some issues for a long time. But you’ll be okay, it’ll get better. I promise.” She scooted closer to him and kissed him on the lips, her fingers ghosting the hem of his t-shirt. “Once we really get busy with things, it’ll help to take your mind off of what’s bothering you.”

A smile pulled at Grant’s lips as he realized that Skye wasn’t talking about the future. She was talking about tonight. He leaned forward and traced her collarbone with his finger, “I really hope you’re right, because I need a _really_ good distraction right now.” he muttered, his voice beginning to grow husky. “To where I won’t think about anything else until late tomorrow.”

Skye smiled and pulled him close, “I tend to make it that way, as long as the elders don’t interrupt. Or Joey. He likes to ask a hell of a lot of questions about what we’re doing.” she said, kissing him again and reaching to take of his t-shirt. “And it’s not like we can put a do not disturb sign on the door or anything.” She threw his shirt aside once she had it off.

“Well, even still, we have _plenty_ of time until the morning comes, so I think we’ll be okay.” Grant half-growled, pulling Skye down to the bed and clawing at her towel in the process. “Maybe we really should do this more. Helps clear my mind.”

Skye helped Grant to take the towel off and threw it aside and Grant fumbled for his underwear, “Trust me, I think we’ll need this for the months to come. We’ve really got a lot ahead for us.” she breathed, kissing Grant again. “We’ll need a hell of a lot of time to ourselves to, well, recuperate.”

“I like the way you think.”

“I haven’t disappointed you yet.”

“Trust me, you’ll never disappoint me again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back after a month without this. I'm really starting to think I'll wrap this up quickly since it won't take much to do so. I've just gotten exhausted with this and I'm really running out of motivation, so I'll try to finish it up the best I can. Keep the comments and kudos coming!


	37. Rewrite the Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye receives some alarming news.

(A Month and a Half Later)

_ “Skye? We’ve got a problem.” _

Skye frowned, clenching her phone in her hand as Lincoln’s voice rang out from the other end, “What is it?” she asked. “Your tone makes it sound like it’s serious.”

_ “Well, kind of. Coulson found me out. He figured out that I’ve been filtering most of the intakes over to you.”  _ Lincoln replied.  _ “I’m honestly surprised that it took him this long. Guess he thought I was sending them over to the training facility instead.” _

Her throat grew dry and she looked over towards the bed where Grant was peacefully slumbering away, “How much does he know?” she questioned. “He’s not sending anyone after us, is he? Because that would be a very unwelcomed sight here if quinjets suddenly show up in the sky.”

_ “Skye, I had to talk some before he blew a fuse. But all he really knows is that you and Ward ran off to Afterlife and are setting it back up for habitation. And that I’ve been filtering Inhumans over to you ever since. But he does want to come and at least ‘survey’ the situation.” _

“Survey?”

_ “His words, not mine. I don’t know what that entails. But he didn’t see too upset about it, just disappointed. I figured that it would be best if you explained the situation to him.”  _ Lincoln continued to explain.  _ “And maybe have some of the elders really explain the whole prophecy thing to him since he still seems completely clueless about it.” _

Skye sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand, “Fine. Let him come. But don’t let him bring a bunch of people with him. Maybe May and one other person at the most. I don’t want my people seeing SHIELD agents come out of nowhere.” she answered. “You know what will happen. Most of them fear SHIELD, I don’t want a revolt.”

_ “I’ll see what I can do. But you better explain this to Ward first. He’ll probably take it the worst, considering things.” _

“I’ll try. Thanks, Lincoln.” Skye took a sharp breath and disconnected the call, throwing the phone onto the bed. Even though she knew that this would happen eventually. Just not two months after settling in. 

And how would she explain things to Grant? He had started to hate SHIELD ever since they turned against him again. She didn’t want him flipping out at the very thought of Coulson showing up. She knew that she had to be careful with what she chose to say.

She sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed and running her hands through her hair.  _ “We haven’t been here that long. I didn’t think Coulson would could so soon.”  _ she thought.  _ “We’ve barely been here for three months and we don’t have things really up and running yet. It’ll take at least another six months for us to have this place full functional. We don’t have enough Inhumans here yet to really call it a settlement. We might have 30 people here. It isn’t enough. We just can’t funnel them here fast enough.  _

_ I know that Lincoln is trying his best here, but it’s not enough.”  _ she continued.  _ “We need more. And what does Coulson even want? There’s no way that it’s just to survey things. There’s something greater than that. I don’t want today being the last of the settlement. If Coulson tries to take Grant back, this place will go up in flames. I don’t trust Grant with his powers enough. Especially around Coulson. I-” _

“Skye? Why’re you sitting on the edge of the bed like that? What’s wrong?”

Skye quickly whipped her head around to see Grant slowly sitting up. He rubbed at his eyes and slightly cocked his head at her in confusion, “Something happen?”

Skye took a sharp breath,  _ “Better to tell him now than not at all.”  _ she thought.  _ “I don’t want Coulson suddenly showing up here and having Grant flip the fuck out over not knowing. Just like how he did with the truth about his past.” _

“Uh, Lincoln called.” she stated, scooting slightly towards him hoping that her presence would help to keep him calm. 

Grant frowned, “What for? He normally doesn’t call like this.” he questioned. “You’re usually the one to call.”

“Coulson found out about this.”

“Huh?” Grant’s stomach flipped and twisted, immediately growing cold right after. He started shaking ever so slightly, “Why? How?”

Skye shrugged, “Coulson found out that Lincoln had been filtering the Inhuman intakes elsewhere.” she began. “He figured out that it was to Afterlife and that we came here. I’m honestly surprised that it took him this long, but it’s still far too soon.”

Grant blinked, “Then what does Coulson want?” he asked, fear starting to seep its way into his voice. “He’s not coming after me, is he?”

“I… I really don’t know for sure. Lincoln says that he wants to come ‘survey’ what we’re doing. Whatever the hell that means.” Skye tried to explain, placing a gentle hand on Grant’s thigh, trying to reestablish the connection between them. She hoped that in doing so, Grant would be able to keep his emotions under check long enough for her to really explain things. 

“I… I told Lincoln for him to go ahead and tell Coulson that he could come. As long as he just had one or two other people with him. Maybe May and one other person.” she continued slowly. “I don’t want things going south, so we need to try to not piss Coulson off even more. He’s probably still mad that we broke you out of confinement. I don’t want him ruining things for us now. We’ve barely even gotten started.”

Grant slowly nodded and took a sharp breath to try and steady himself. He could already feel the flames starting to accumulate just underneath his skin. He didn’t want to have a freakout here, even though there was no way that he could hurt Skye. He knew that his flames could possibly destroy the entirety of Afterlife if he wasn’t careful.

He drug a hand over his face, feeling his beard gently scratch his skin, “And what do we do if he wants to somehow fight back?” he asked quietly. “We don’t need SHIELD sending a firestorm. We… We just want things to be peaceful.”

“I know that.” Skye answered softly. “I’ll try my best to explain things to him. That this is the best place for Inhumans. Maybe we can work out some kind of deal between Afterlife and SHIELD. I’ll figure something out. As long as it makes Coulson happy and keeps him from somehow destroying this.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Grant asked, looking Skye dead in the eyes. “Coulson… He’s not going to like this. Especially since I’m a part of it.” Ever since his memories started to truly come back, Grant fully understood to why everyone had hated him so. So that made him even more afraid for what Coulson could possibly do to him.

Skye shrugged, “Honestly? I have no damn idea here, Grant. I’m just hoping that he’ll see how happy the Inhumans are here and that will change his mind.” she answered. “I know that we don’t have a lot going here yet, but if he just gives us a chance we’ll have plenty of time to get things right.”

Grant leaned forward and gently took Skye’s hand, “Yeah. I think we’ve got a long time. Even though I’d like to get things right within the next five years or so. Just my opinion.”

“I would, too. There’s no telling to how long we’ll live. Hell, if it’s really until the end of time, then that’s unpredictable.” Skye sighed. “So it is best that we have this place back to its former glory sooner rather than later. And it’ll definitely help if we can get Coulson on our side with things instead of having to sneak around his back to get Inhumans here. We’ll find some way to convince him. I hope.”

“Yeah, me too. 

I don’t want all of this to go down in flames.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I have no idea how I let this slip away from me so badly. I didn't mean for it to go on a half-year long hiatus, but it somehow did. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep this up and manage to actually end it pretty soon. If I can do things right, there's probably under 10 chapters left. Keep the comments and kudos coming!

**Author's Note:**

> Just something me and a friend on Tumblr created and I decided to write it. Find me @ gears-of-ward!


End file.
